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Ministers  and  Music 


PRINCETON    LECTURES 


BY/ 


REV.    JOHN    BARBOUR.  D.  D. 


3CC 


Printed  for  the  Author 

BY  THOMAS  A.  DAVIS 

Maysville.  Ky. 


A  lew  copie?  of  tKese  Lectures  can  be  ordered  of  the  Author  at 
Maysville,  Ky.      Price,  50  cents  a  copy. 


preface 

N  October,  1908,  I  gave  a  sKort  series  of 
lectures  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 
on  "The  Importance  of  Music  to  the  Cul- 
ture and  Work  of  the  Ministry.  "  In  putting  these  into 
print,  I  have  not  undertaken  to  eliminate  repetitions 
of  ideas,  which  pervade  them  like  a  prophet  s  burdens  ; 
nor  to  change  the  personal  style  of  address  incidental 
to  the  simple  character  and  purpose  of  the  performance. 
The  "  Opening  Words  "  of  the  course  sufficiently 
denne  the  talks  as  the  plea  of  a  pastor  with  his  brother 
ministers  for  more  attention  to  the  musical  service. 
The  following  valued  appreciations  of  the  Lectures 
have  been  volunteered  to  the  Author : 

The  late  ReV.  SYLVESTER  F.  SCOVEL,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.:  "  The  whole  discussion  is  fresh  and  sug- 
gestive. It  repeats  to  me  some  thoughts  along  this 
line  which  I  have  never  met  elsewhere  expressed. 
The  style  is  crisp ;  the  movement  rapid.  Th^re  is 
here  and  there  a  flash  ot  humor. 

*'  The  language  itself  shows  more  acquaintance  with 
music,  by  its  allusions  and  technical  correctness, 
than  IS  ordinarily  possible  to  any  but  a  professional 
musician. 

"There  is  a  dignined  conception  of  music  as  an 
intellectual  art  which  few  have  cherished. 

"  The  practical  suggestions  are  wise  and  fully  corre- 
spond with  whatever  experience  I  have  had  m  a  long 
ministry  which  succeeded  experience  as   a   chorister. 

*'  The  closing  thoughts  on  '  The  Place  of  Music  in 
the  Scheme  of  Redemption  are  elevating  and  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word  edifying.' 

Rev.  J.  R.  Miller,  D.  D.:  "  I  am  dehghted  with 
it.  I  believe  a  book  of  this  kind  will  prove  a  great 
help  to  ministers.' 

JOHN    BARBOUR 
Maytville,  Ky. 

Page  Three 


ContetiU 


Patfe 

Opening  Words 7 

I 
Music  as  a  Brancli  of  Theological  Learning-  •  •  •        9 

II 

Music  as  an  Element  of  Ministerial  Culture-  -  •      27 

III 
Music  as  a  Factor  of  Congregational  Power  •  -  -  -      41 

IV 

Music  as  tKe  Vehicle  of  the  Church's  Praise  •  -  -      53 

V 

The  Pastor  s  Relation  to  the  Music 65 

VI 

The  Leading  of  the  Musical  Service 77 

VII 

The  Development  of  Congregational  Singing  -  -  -      97 

VIII 

The  Use  of  Music  in  Pastoral  and   Other  Per- 
sonal Work  in  the  Community Ill 

IX 

The  Place  of  Music  in  the  Scheme  of   Redemp- 
tion     120 


Page  Five 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/ministersmusOObarb 


Opening  Words 


Brethren  of  the  Seminary: 

AM  to  Have  tlie  privilege  of  speaking  \.o 
you  on  a  subject  of  great  interest  from 
many  points  of  view.  I  will  be  under- 
stood, of  course,  to  speak  as  a  Pastor.  I  am  no 
Doctor  of  Music,  and  wbat  I  do  not  know  about 
Church  Music  would  fill  many  volumes.  Indeed,  I 
have  no  such  call  to  speak  as  many  pastors  of 
larger  experience  and  better  gifts.  But  they  are  not 
speaking,  and  it  may  be  that  my  words  will  be  more 
level  to  the  experience  and  the  needs  of  the  average 
preacher. 

It  is  not  for  any  one  an  easy  topic  to  treat.  To 
borrow  the  lines  of  Richard  Watson  Gilder : 

"  Words  praising  music,  what  are  tney  but  leaves 
Whirled    round  the  fountain  by  the  wind!" 

Besides,  the  gifts  of  pastors  and  the  conditions  of 
pastorates  are  so  various,  that  it  is  hard  to  nt  to  so 
complex  a  situation  suitable  suggestions. 

Let  me  say  that  my  purpose  is  to  propose  some 
general  prmciples  that  underlie  church  music  every- 
where, and  to  drop  a  few  hints  as  to  methods  which 
may  be  fruitful  in  your  after-experience.  It  is  in 
short,  rather  to  exhort,  than  to  instruct, — I  am  an 
exhorter  on  Church  Music! — to  arouse  lethargic 
pastors  to  their  duty,  and  especially  to  remonstrate 
with  the  student  or  minister — quite  a  numerous  indi- 
vidual, I  fear  me — who  neither  knows  nor  cares  to 
know  very  much  about  church  music.  For  him 
have  I  offended  ! 

My  nrst  effort,  then,  will  be  to  vindicate  for  music 
a  better  place  in  the  average  ministerial  estimation. 

Page  Seven 


Mluslc  as  a  ^raticl)  of  ^l)eolo$ical 
learning 

"See  deep  enough  and  you  will  see  musically.  " 

— Carlyle 


N  a  recent  publication  on  tKe  importance 
oi  musical  knowledge  to  the  ministry 
the  chair  dealing  with  this  subject  was 
described  as  equal,  if  not  superior,  in  practical 
importance  to  any  in  the  theological  faculty. 

I  shall  not,  however,  undertake  to  fix  the 
relative  importance  of  the  topic,  nor  to  settle 
what  can  be  accomplished  in  this  direction  in 
the  seminary  years.  Just  now  everything  is 
being  loaded  upon  the  theological  seminaries. 
It  IS  being  demanded  that  they  turn  out  men 
ready  to  take  hold  at  once  of  all  the  depart- 
ments of  the  Church  s  work.  This  is  certainly 
unreasonable.  I  insist,  however,  that  a  student 
should  not  be  allowed  to  leave  the  semi- 
nary without  a  realization  of  the  importance  or 
music  to  his  work,  or  without  a  fair  start  in  the 
preparation  for  what  should  be  a  life-long  study. 

Page  Nine 


Let  me  suggest  a  few  considerations,  nxing 
for   tnis  subject  a  place  in  a  minister  s   studies. 

1.  The  intellectual  interest  attaching  to  the 
world-wide  phenomena  oi  music. 

I  do  not  now  speak  oi  music  as  a  branch  or 
physics,  but  of  music  as  an  art  originating  in 
the  depths  of  man  s  sentient  nature  and  affect- 
ing marvelously  his  life.  The  study  of  this 
belongs  of  right  to  that  calling  which  serves 
humanity  most  deeply  of  all.  In  this  view,  I 
know  of  no  subject  broader  in  its  scope.  No 
other  art  is  so  purely  ideal  in  its  origin  and 
content,  yet  none  has  so  touched  the  life  of 
universal  man.  It  is  at  once  the  most  abstruse, 
and  the  most  human,  of  the  nne  arts. 

It  seems  to  have  taken  its  rise  in  man  s  fond- 
ness for  rhythm,  and  in  his  efforts  to  nnd 
expression  for  his  feelings,  its  purpose  at  the 
beginning  having  been  to  enhance  the  effect  of 
some  ceremonial  of  war  or  of  religion.  It  was 
at  nrst  little  more  than  chant  or  intonation. 
Not  until  well  down  into  the  Christian  Era, 
indeed,  did  music  enter  seriously  upon  its 
struggle  for  an  independent  life.  A  study  of 
that  struggle  affords  us  cause  for  perpetual 
astonishment.  The  nxing  of  the  scale,  the 
alphabet  of  music,  was  a  work  of  exceeding 
difficulty — many  great  races  having  not  even 
yet  found  the  natural  scale.  India  has  built  the 
Taj  Mahal  and  has  developed  a  powerful  philos- 
ophy, but  what  beyond   the  simplest  rudiments 

Page  Ten 


of  song  has  she  given  the  world?  Our  mis- 
sionaries take  to  India  and  China  and  Africa 
the  true  musical  scale  and  with  it  the  melodies 
of  the  heart.  Music  is  the  art  of  Christen- 
dom and  bespeaks  the  flower  of  her  social  and 
intellectual  culture. 

So  familiar  now  to  us  are  the  results  of 
musical  discovery  that  we  can  with  difficulty 
retrace  the  way  along  which  man  s  stumbling  feet 
have  walked.  The  nrst  musical  art  was  almost 
"without  form  and  void,  a  chaotic  world  de- 
void of  life  or  beauty.  What  would  you  think 
of  tuneless  music?  What  of  timeless  music, 
a  music  without  regularity  of  time  or  structure  ? 
The  evolution  of  the  art,  however,  passed 
through  these  very  stages.  One  can  poorly 
imagine  how  much  of  that  early  music  could 
have  given  any  pleasure,  or,  indeed,  how  it 
actually  sounded,  since  musical  notation,  the 
writing  of  the  staff,  was  not  perfected  until  the 
Eleventh  Century.  This  fact,  alone,  might  ex- 
plain the  slow  progress  of  the  art.  It  illus- 
trates, too,  the  essentially  subtile  character  of 
the  task.  To  transcribe  in  a  visible  record 
something  transpiring  in  the  world  of  sound, 
"to  see  with  the  ear  and  to  hear  with  the  eye, 
as  one  of  the  popes  phrased  it ;  this,  which  can 
be  taught  a  modern  child  in  a  few  weeks,  is  the 
product  of  many  centuries  study  of  learned 
men.  The  invention  of  letters  and  writing 
may   seem    equally   wonderful,   yet    these   were 

Page  Eleven 


achieved  at  a  very  early  time ;  whereas  the 
production  of  melody,  as  we  know  it,  was  not 
accomplished  until  the  later  ages  of  civilization. 
Not  until  John  Sebastian  Bach  arrived  was  there 
reached  even  a  working  adjustment  or  musical 
keys,  or  the  perfection  of  musical  time.  Victor 
Hugo  has  said  that  music  was  born  m  the 
Sixteenth  Century,  but  it  was  only  after  a 
gestation  lasting  many  centuries,  the  long  travail 
giving  little  intimation  of  the  wondrous  popular 
art  it  was  bringing  to  the  birth.  For  a  good 
portion  of  this  period  it  was  almost  withdrawn 
from  the  outer  world  in  the  absorption  of 
music-workers  in  the  perfectation  of  its  form. 
During  the  middle  ages  it  was  little  more  than  a 
branch  of  mathematics,  the  chords  and  progres- 
sions being  based  upon  certain  principles  laid 
down  and  inexorably  worked  out  by  rule. 
Some  of  this  is,  as  a  consequence,  intolerable  to 
our  ears.  A  learned  writer  in  chronicling  the 
close  of  the  first  great  period  with  Hucbald  says 
"the  extreme  of  ugliness  in  music  was  reached 
in  the  system  of  Hucbald.  There  were  signs 
of  rebellion,  however,  even  then — one  of  the 
wits  of  the  day  having  characterized  the  current 
music  as  "  a  form  of  penance  devised  by  church- 
men. It  was  upon  this  barren  waste  that  the 
great  genius  of  Palestrma  burst  forth  in  deathless 
song  "putting  a  soul  under  the  ribs  of  death. 
You  have  read,  no  doubt,  of  the  Troubadours 
and  Trouveres  in  France  and  of  the  Minnesingers 

Page  Twelve 


and  Meistersingers  in  Germany.  In  these 
movements,  as  well  as  m  tne  earlier  rolk-songs 
oi  Nortnern  Europe,  tne  popular  mmd  was 
asserting  its  freedom  and  its  longing  for  tne 
beautiful  in  tne  world  of  sound.  Tne  value 
of  this  Luther  was  quick  to  see,  and  ere  long  he 
was  sending  the  principles  of  the  Reformation 
everywhere  on  wings  of  song.  The  outnower- 
ing  of  this  wondrous  art  was  thus  timed  to  the 
general  awakening  of  the  human  mind.  But  it 
could  not  then  have  appeared  or  have  done  its 
popular  work  if  the  science  had  not  been 
preparing  for  centuries  by  musical  scholars. 
This  underlies  musical  art  as  a  knowledge  of 
anatomy  underlies  painting. 

We  have  lost  no  time  in  this  review  if  we 
have  come  better  to  realize  what  a  marvelous 
intellectual  creation  music  is,  and  what  a  large 
place  it  has  nlled  in  human  history.  No  man, 
I  insist,  can  rightly  claim  to  be  an  educated 
man  who  has  not  in  mind  the  outline,  at  least, 
of  this  wonderful  story. 

2.  The  place  which  all  religious  systems, 
especially  the  Christian,  give  to  music. 

Its  importance  to  a  Minister  of  the  Gospel 
arises,  chiefly  from  the  intimate  connection  that 
has  always  obtained  between  music  and  religion. 
Music  appeals  to  and  serves  man  s  religious 
nature  as  does  no  other  art. 

Cousin  has  called  it  "the  most  penetrating, 
the    profoundest  and    the   most   intimate  of  the 

Page  Thirteen 


arts.  Both  painting  and  poetry  have  dealt 
witn  religious  tnemes.  Architecture,  too,  has^ 
been  shaped  by  and  has  helped  m  turn  to 
enhance  the  appeal  of  religion,  but  music  has 
spoken  to  man  with  a  voice  more  closely 
congruous  to  religion  itself.  Cowper  had  this 
clearly  in  mind  when  he  wrote : 

"There  is  in  souls  a  sympathy  with  sounds: 
Some  chord  in  unison  with  that  we  hear 
It  touches  within  us,  and  the  heart  rephes. 

It  IS  in  reality  a  language  no  less  than  speech. 
Nay,  it  goes  deeper  and  rises  higher  than  speech, 
voicing  at  times  soul-experiences  that  words 
could  not  utter.  It  is  this  magic  dealing  with 
our  deepest  feelings,  this  suggestion  of  mystery, 
this  ministration  to  the  subconscious  soul,  if  you 
please,  that  gives  to  music  its  unspeakable 
witchery  and  charm.  "  It  leads  us  to  the  edge 
of  the  innnite,  as  Carlyle  has  strikingly  said, 
"and  lets  us  for  a  moment  gaze  into  that.  It 
IS  because  of  this  inner  character,  both  of  music 
and  religion,  that  so  much  of  their  career  has 
been  passed  together.  They  have  certainly  had 
a  marvelous  ainnity  for  each  other.  Dickinson, 
in  his  "  Study  of  the  History  of  Music,  says 
"Music  in  its  primitive  forms  is  not  a  free 
independent  art,  but  is  connected  with  poetic 
recitation  and  dancing,  usually  under  the  stimulus 
of   religious  emotion. 

Much    of  music  s   own   development  is  thus 
traceable   to   its   religious   association.      Among 

Page  Fourteen 


tlie  Egyptians  and  Greeks,  from  wnom  we 
derive  the  basis  of  our  musical  system,  it  was 
essentially  a  religious  art.  T ney  ascriDed  its 
origin  to  heaven  ana  the  nrst  musical  science 
w^as  in  tne  service  oi  religion. 

In  the  early  Churcli  music  seems  to  have 
been  little  more  than  declamation,  or  a  form  of 
chanting,  following  the  impulses  of  the  wor- 
shippers until  Ambrose  and  Gregory  levied 
upon  Greek  musical  science  to  systematize  and 
enrich,  the  service  of  the  Church.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  notice  that  in  the  rejection  of  the  rhapsodic 
and  gesticulatory  music  of  the  heathen,  as 
unsuited  to  the  deeper  and  quieter  moods  of  the 
Christian  life,  music  began  to  attain  for  itself  a 
more  thoughtful  and  beautiful  character. 

The  Church  now  took  it  in  hand  to  develop 
it  for  her  own  uses.  A  vast  deal  of  effort  in 
monasteries,  in  quiet  singing  groups  and  in 
the  schools  of  the  day  was  spent  in  perfecting 
it  for  the  service  of  religion. 

Take  one  salient  instance,  the  development 
of  the  organ.  This  was  of  little  value  as  an 
instrument  until  the  Church  laid  hold  of  it. 
Christian  worship  required  the  sounding  of  the 
tones  together ;  out  of  this  was  born  harmony 
and  counterpoint.  To  continue  the  sounds 
required  a  suitable  instrument ;  this  was  found 
in  the  organ  enlarged  and  perfected.  For  a 
century  or  two  the  organ,  thus  developed  by 
the  Church,  was  almost  the  only  dependence  of 

Page  Fifteen 


musicians.  Consider,  too,  that  it  was  long 
beiore  tne  orchestra  appeared  and  trie  violin, 
as  we  know  it,  was  far  away.  In  tnat  pre- 
paratory time  the  organists  and  musical  scholars 
of  tne  Churcn  developed  the  science  which  lies 
at  the  basis  of  all  our  music,  secular  as  well  as 
religious. 

Think,  too,  of  the  service  rendered  by  choirs 
and  choruses  of  the  Church  during  all  these 
centuries.  Reflect  also  on  the  mighty  work  our 
Christian  worship  is  doing  to-day  in  training 
the  masses  to  sing.  Multitudes  of  our  people 
owe  all  their  ability  to  sing  to  the  Sunday- 
School  and  the  Church. 

On  the  other  hand,  music  has  done  much  for 
religion.  The  Hebrew  Psalter,  the  great  classic 
of  religious  experience,  evidently  sprang  out  of 
the  exigencies  of  the  praise-service,  and  in  the 
modern  Church  it  is  the  Psalms  and  metrical 
hymns,  poems  made  to  be  sung,  which  have 
drawn  out  and  nurtured  the  religious  affections 
of  Christendom.  Music  has  always  been  needed 
for  the  deepest  impressions  and  expressions  of 
worship.  How  ineffective  for  instance,  would 
be  our  grandest  Doxology  "Praise  God  from 
whom  all  blessings  now,  simply  recited  by  the 
congregation,  compared  with  the  effect  produced 
when  the  majestic  accompaniment  of  Old  Hun- 
dred IS  added !  As  you  have  stood  and  sung 
that  strain  have  you  ever  felt  that  anything  was 
lacking   to   express   your   emotions?      Without 

Page  Sixteen 


doubt  music  has  carried  the  soul  to  heights 
or  rehgious  perception,  and  engagedness,  that  the 
average  man  could  not  have  attained  without 
it.  It  has  voiced  for  you  what  was  in  your 
heart.  Indeed,  there  are  "  reaches  of  the  soul 
that  you  yourself  did  not  know  were  possible 
until  the  composer  revealed  them  to  you  by 
his  magic  wand. 

Religion,  too,  has  given  to  music  its  highest 
themes.  What  conception  of  the  sublime  m 
music  would  we  have  if  Handel  and  Beethoven 
had  not  produced  their  sacred  oratorios  and 
masses?  The  composer  has  taken  the  words 
of  Scripture  and  has  borne  them  into  the  heart 
of  man  as  even  they  would  not  otherwise  have 
appealed  to  him. 

Let  one  read  the  words  of  the  "  Te  Deum, 
"We  Praise  Thee,  0  God;  we  Acknowledge 
Thee  to  be  the  Lord,  then  let  him  hear  these 
words  lifted  upon  the  mighty  pinions  of  Han- 
del s,  or  Stainer  s,  or  Dudley  Buck  s  music  and 
he  will  have  some  measure  of  the  ineffable  serv- 
ice of  music  to  religion.  The  ecstasy  of  the 
soul,  its  triumph  in  God,  or  the  comforting  as- 
surances of  our  Saviour  s  love,  these  nnd  their 
most  sufficing,  most  delightful,  expression  in 
song. 

I  am  trying  now  to  avoid  the  language  of 
rhapsody.  I  speak  but  the  words  of  truth  and 
soberness,  as  I  appeal  to  what  we  have  all  felt 
under   the   stimulus  of   music   in   the   House  of 

Page  Seventeen 


(jod.  Nor  have  we  been  merely  recipients  in 
this.  Thousands  or  people  publish  abroad  in 
this  way  the  doctrines  of  the  cross  where  a 
preacher  s  voice  will  not  reach.  It  is  the  peo- 
ple s  art,  and  the  people  s  sublime  part  in  the 
propagation  of  the  Kingdom.  A  thoughtful 
minister  must  surely  have  a  scholarly  interest 
in  such  an  art,  even  if  he  be  incapable  of  more. 
If  Plato  and  Aristotle  were  impressed  with  its 
ethical  value,  how  much  more  should  it  awaken 
the  interest  of  a  Christian  scholar,  alive  to  all 
that  IS  artistic  and  rehning  in  the  field  of  truth  ? 

The  place  of  music  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  Church  I  need  only  allude  to  here. 
We  are  certainly  assuming  nothing  when  we 
cite  this  as  a  measure  of  the  value  which  God 
Himself  attaches  to  music  in  worship. 

3.  The  increasing  importance  of  the  argu- 
ment from  Aesthetics  among  the  Christian 
evidences. 

It  IS  remarkable  that  Christian  thinkers  have 
not  oftener  followed  the  philosophic  mind  of 
Plato  in  this  direction.  The  Christian  revela- 
tion has  certainly  made  more  clear,  and  has 
vastly  enriched,  the  vision  which  this  most 
gifted  mind  of  the  ancient  world  had  of  the 
spiritual  reality  underlying  all  material  phe- 
nomena. That  the  same  wonderful  race  dis- 
covered more  both  of  the  beautiful  and  of  the 
spiritual  in  nature  is  itself  mightily  suggestive 
of    their    interior    connection.      It    is    true   that 

Page  Eighteen 


Greek  civilization  perished  in  its  worship  of  the 
Deautiiul,  but  its  greatest  thinkers  ghmpsea  the 
deeper  truth  which  it  is  now  given  to  Chris- 
tianity to  develop. 

I  earnestly  commend  to  you,  then,  a  deeper 
investigation  or  the  whole  territory  of  Aesthet- 
ics. In  such  a  work  as  John  Harrington  Ed- 
wards "God  and  Music,  you  will  nnd  most 
suggestively  expanded  the  argument  from  order 
and  rhythm  in  nature  as  leading  up  to  the  source 
of  all  in  the  bosom  of  the  Christian  s  God.  I 
do  not  know  a  work  which  urges  more  power- 
fully than  this  the  spiritual  side  of  this  subject. 
Its  author  not  only  nnds  in  a  world  of  beauty 
an  argument  for  the  Divine  Artist,  as  it  has 
impressed  the  greatest  thinkers,  but  the  proof 
also  that  God  is  Himself  the  greatest  lover  of 
beauty.  This,  of  itself,  should  consecrate  the 
beautiful  to  us. 

The  witness,  too,  which  the  beautiful  affords 
to  man  s  spiritual  nature  and  his  adjustment  to 
the  great  soul  of  things,  the  essentially  altruistic 
nature  of  all  great  art,  and  the  evidence  of  de- 
sign in  the  auditory  apparatus  of  man,  fitted 
as  it  IS  to  the  appreciation  of  the  most  deli- 
cate and  most  tremendous  effects  of  music  long 
before  the  art-forms  themselves  had  been  created 
in  the  toiling  centuries, — ponder  these  suggestions 
carefully  and  you  will  not  think  them  fanciful. 

It  is  time  that  Christian  thinkers  were  follow- 
ing more  vigorously  the  leading  of   the  Duke  of 

Page  Nineteen 


Argyle,  and  BusKnell,  and  Martineau  in  this 
direction. 

We  do  Christianity  a  vast  disservice  by 
abandoning  tbe  field  of  art  to  a  worldly  phil- 
osophy. Art  IS,  at  last,  the  assertion  of  man  s 
spirituality.  It  came  out  of  the  soul  of  the 
artist  and  it  speaks  through  its  material  charms 
to  the  waiting  soul  that  can  discern  its  deeper 
message.  The  final  function  of  art  is  undoubt- 
edly to  refine  and  elevate,  to  suggest  the  vision 
which  was  "never  yet  on  sea  or  land.  It  is 
God  s  signature  on  all  the  works  of   His  hand. 

There  is  no  more  convincing  argument  for 
the  Divinity  of  the  Bible  than  its  surpassing 
literary  beauty.  It  is  from  the  same  source  as 
the  violet  and  the  sunset.  How  bald  will  be 
our  Christianity  and  how  lame  our  apolegetics 
if  we  abandon  the  argument  from  the  beautiful ; 
and  not  to  use  it  practically  is  to  abandon  it. 
In  an  age  impressed  with  evolution  in  nature, 
the  upward  trend  of  man  s  soul  toward  the 
beautiful,  as  recorded  in  the  story  of  music,  is 
especially  valuable  in  meeting  a  materialistic 
philosophy.  Dr.  Chalmers  voices  his  apprecia- 
tion of  the  ethical  value  of  music  when  he  says : 
"the  power  and  expression  of  music  may  well 
be  regarded  as  a  most  beauteous  adaptation  of 
external  nature  to  the  moral  constitution  of  man, 
for  what  can  be  more  adapted  to  his  moral 
constitution  than  that  which  is  so  helpful,  as 
music  IS,  to  his  moral  culture? 

Page  Twenty 


No  tnoughtiul  minister  then  can  undervalue 
the  testimony  from  this  realm  of  the  Creator  s 
world,  nor  will  he  regard  as  a  merely  "orna- 
mental accessory  that  which  is  concededly  the 
most  delightful,  as  well  as  the  most  powerful, 
expression  of  religious  leeling. 

4.  The  insurgent  demands  of  Liturgies  upon 
the  attention  of   pastors  at  this  time. 

Two  causes  have  conspired  to  produce  this. 

One  IS  the  growing  culture  of  our  people, 
which  leads  them  to  look  for  the  same  taste  in 
their  worship  which  they  demand  in  their  secular 
life ;  just  as  David  could  not  be  satisfied  in  a 
house  of  cedar  whilst  the  Ark  of  God  dwelt 
within  a  tent.  In  a  great  civilization  there  is 
an  outreaching  in  every  direction  for  what  is 
lovely  in  form  as  well  as  noble  in  Spirit,  and 
this  craving  cannot  be  kept  out  of  religious 
worship.  The  field  should  not  then  be  yielded 
to  the  ritualists.  We  will  not  concede  that  the 
usual  Protestant  service  is  barren  or  dry.  It  is 
not  so  to  one  who  loves  the  truth  and  sees  a 
certain  beauty  in  it  wherever  found,  but  this  is 
not  to  forget  that  the  true  and  the  good  ally 
themselves  normally  with  the  beautiful  and  that 
truth  itself  may  suffer  if  there  be  not  symmet- 
rical development  of  all.  "The  beautiful  is  the 
splendor  of  the  True,  wrote  Plato.  When  the 
Maker  lodged  the  love  of  truth  in  the  soul  of 
man  He  put  hardby  an  instinct  for  beauty. 
We   are   not    then    to    be   stampeded    from   the 

Page  Twenty-One 


vantage-point  wKich  the  God  of  Beauty  has 
given  us.  In  our  rear  or  the  Sirens  we  nave 
gone  too  often  upon  tne  bare  rocks  or  monk- 
ery and  a  fanatical  Puritanism,  forgetting  that 
tne  cure  for  error  is  the  truth.  We  can  meet 
current  paganism  in  the  use  of  the  beautiful 
only  by  seizing  its  nne  spiritual  content  and 
delightful  in  that. 

The  other  fact  is  the  necessity  for  a  greater 
uniformity  in  the  worship  of  the  churches.  A 
veritable  ferment,  not  to  say  confusion,  is 
showing  itself  in  churches  which  have  not  a 
stated  service.  You  will  have  this  precipitated 
upon  you  when  you  go  from  congregation  to 
congregation  hardly  able  to  follow,  let  alone 
direct,  the  worship  of  many  of  them.  It  is  a 
serious  condition  which  confronts  our  pastors, 
and  you  will  have  to  put  your  best  thought 
upon  it.  It  will  be  charged  that  this  is  the 
necessary  outcome  of  Protestantism  working  to 
confusion  and  contradiction.  It  will  then  be 
yours  to  show  that  Protestantism  is  a  spirit  of 
order  as  well  as  of  independence.  In  due  time, 
if  I  mistake  not,  we  will  come  together  to  solve 
this  problem. 

It  ought  to  be  possible,  profiting  by  past 
experience,  to  devise  a  more  lovely  and  impres- 
sive form  of  service  than  has  yet  appeared. 
We  can  recognize  the  commanding  place  of 
preaching  in  New  Testament  worship,  yet 
provide  for  the   peoples    part  more  adequately. 

Page  Twenty-Two 


That  construction  will  gather,  I  helieve,  about 
the  great  Music  of  the  Past;  the  Hymns  and 
the  suhlime  prose  forms  of  Praise  which  have 
sprung  out  of  the  Church  s  heart.  In  the  mean- 
time, as  Mr.  Beecher  well  said  years  ago,  the 
great  Hymns  of  the  congregation  constitute  the 
Protestant  Liturgy. 

As  ministers  you  will  have  to  bear  your  part 
in  whatever  comes  of  this.  Here  emphatically 
you  will  have  "  to  face  the  music.  If  matters 
are  to  continue  as  they  are,  and  you  have,  as 
one  has  said,  "  to  form  a  Liturgy  for  yourself 
every  Sunday  you  will  certainly  need  to  be 
well  furnished  for  the  task.  If  on  the  other 
hand,  because  of  the  inability  of  many  clergy- 
men, the  direction  of  the  musical  service  be 
relegated  to  trained  singers  and  choirs,  as  in 
the  Jewish  Temple,  you  will  still  have  need  for 
considerable  musical  knowledge  to  assume  your 
proper  guidance  of  all.  In  any  event,  the 
Praise  of  the  Church  cannot  be  remitted  to  the 
choir  or  even  to  the  congregation.  It  cannot 
be  specialized  out  of  the  hands  of  Him,  who  is 
the  "Master  of  Assemblies.  It  is  too  vitally 
connected  with  the  conduct  and  the  profit  of 
every  religious  service. 

5.  The  lesson  afforded  by  religious  experi- 
ence. Let  me  emphasize  in  this  connection  the 
part  ministers  of  religion  have  taken  in  past 
musical  development.  For  centuries  the  chief 
work    of  musical    discovery  and    advance  was 

Page  Twenty-Three 


the  task  of  churchmen.  I  miglit  use  this  fact  to 
appeal  to  your  professional  pride,  but  it  has  a 
still  deeper  suggestiveness. 

It  was  not  simply  because  ministers  were 
the  learned  class,  but  because  of  the  value  of 
musical  expression  to  religion  that  they  thus 
led  in  musical  discovery.  That  perpetual  con- 
nection, surely,  challenges  the  interest  of  every 
reflecting  minister.  As  watchmen  on  the  walls 
looking  out  for  everything  affecting  the  religious 
life  of  our  people  one  cannot  be  indifferent  here. 
Bishop  Potter  has  said  that,  "the  history  of 
music  IS  in  one  aspect  of  it,  almost  a  history 
of  religion.  One  of  the  nrst  historical  evi- 
dences of  the  worship  of  Christ  as  God  is  found 
in  the  singing  of  Hymns  to  Him  mentioned  in 
Pliny  s  famous  report  to  Trajan.  From  that 
time  a  close  connection  can  be  traced  between 
the  musical  service,  and  the  spiritual  character 
of  any  period.  The  early  piety  of  the  Church 
perpetuated  the  songs  of  the  people  in  the  sim- 
ple synagogue  service,  and  one  of  the  nrst  marks 
of  usurpation  in  the  Church  came  in  the  Edict 
of  the  Council  of  Laodicea  (367)  restricting 
the  praise-service  to  the  clergy.  Henceforth, 
the  mass  stands  for  Roman  Catholicism.  But 
the  music  of  the  mass  will  never  become  the 
music  of  the  masses !  With  the  Reformation 
of  Luther  reappeared  popular  singing. 

The  glorious  music  of  Palestrina  had  marked 
a    mighty  artistic   advance,    but    it    could    not 

Page  Twenty-Four 


bespeak  the  deeper  religious  needs  oi  the  people 
which  became  embodied  in  the  Hymns  of 
Protestantism.  Luther  and  Calvin  stood  as 
much  for  a  certain  style  of  Psalmody  as  for 
particular  doctrines  of  religion.  Knox  and  his 
associates,  in  England  and  Scotland,  also  car- 
ried the  Reformation  into  worship,  and  Scotch 
Psalm-singing  has  always  gone  with  a  certain 
sturdy  religious  character. 

I  need  not  enlarge  upon  the  use  of  music  by 
Wesley  and  by  Moody,  nor  its  service  in  the 
Welsh  revival.  Everywhere  there  has  been  a 
vital  connection  between  the  music  and  the  cur- 
rent religious  ideas  and  habits  of  the  people. 

It  should  be  evident,  too,  that  your  own 
religious  life  is  at  stake  in  this  matter ;  and 
that,  whether  you  can  sing  or  not.  You  need 
the  fellowship  which  one  may  have  who  sim- 
ply follows  the  words  of  praise.  You  need, 
also,  the  studies  in  experimental  religion  em- 
bodied in  the  great  Hymns  of  the  Church. 

Church  history  has  recorded  for  us  the  im- 
pression made  by  the  music  of  Ambrose  on  the 
sensitive  soul  of  Augustine  at  a  critical  time. 
Instances  of  this  sort  can  be  multiplied,  but  I 
close  by  simply  citing  m  this  connection  the 
striking  testimony  of  Dr.  Channmg:  "I  am 
conscious  of  a  power  in  music  which  I  want 
words  to  describe.  It  touches  chords,  reaches 
depths  in  the  soul  which  lie  beyond  all  other 
influences.      It    extends   my   consciousness    and 

Page  Twenty-Five 


notning  in  my  experience  is  more  mysterious. 
An  instinct  has  always  led  me  to  transfer  it  to 
heaven,  and  I  suspect  that  the  Christian  under 
its  power  has  orten  attained  to  a  singular  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  immortality. 


Page  Twenty-Six 


II 

^uslc  as  an  TEUment  of  ^ittlsterlal 

"And  therefore  I  said,  Glaucon,  musical  training  is  a  more  potent 
instrument  than  any  other,  because  rhythm  and  harmony  find  their 
way  into  the  secret  places  of  the  soul,  on  which  they  mightily 
fasten,  imparting  grace,  and  making  graceful  the  soul  of  him  who  is 
rightly  educated,  or  ungraceful  who  is  ill-educated." — Plato. 

0  man,  in  tnese  modern  days,  more 
needs  to  levy  upon  all  the  means  of 
culture  withm  His  reach  than  a  min- 
ister or  the  Gospel ;  and  I  am  conndent  that  in 
no  study  will  he  nnd  nner  discipline,  or  hetter 
preparation  of  the  whole  man,  body,  soul,  and 
spirit,  for  his  work  than  in  music. 

Were  it  only  to  give  him  recreation  from 
severer  studies,  and  from  exacting  pastoral 
cares,  there  could  he  nothing  more  delightful, 
nothing  more  becoming  to  him  than  music. 
Many  ministers  get  from  nction,  and  from 
magazine  reading,  what  they  might  better  get 
from  music.  It  would  be  at  once  diversion 
and  inspiration  to  them. 

"To  know  the  cause  why  music  was  ordained! 
Was  it  not  to  refresh  the  mind  of  man 
After  his  studies  or  his  usual  pain?  ' 

— Shakespeare 

Page  Twenty-Seven 


Moreover,  singing  is  of  positive  benent  to 
tke  liealtli.  It  may  be  tbat  tbe  longer  lives  ot 
tne  ministry,  as  life  insurance  tables  witness, 
are  partly  due  to  tbe  fact  tnat  as  a  class,  tney 
sing  more  tnan  otner  men.  Singing  Helps  to 
preserve  tne  mind  s  tone  and  temper,  as  well 
as  to  keep  the  body  well.  Tne  effect  of  music 
on  the  nervous  system  is  coming  to  be  more 
and  more  recognized.  Every  physician  recom- 
mends singing  tor  tbe  lungs.  It  bas  been  ob- 
served that  fewer  pastors  are  laid  aside  witb 
"  preachers  sore  tbroat  wbo  are  in  tbe  babit 
of  singing.  Tbe  "breakdown  is  often  due  to 
ignorance  as  to  bow  tbe  voice  should  be  used 
in  speech  or  song.  In  reality  the  praise  service 
should  not  tire,  but  should  rather  prepare  one 
better  to  preach.  The  vocal  organs  regularly 
used  in  singing  are  strengthened  and  thus  made 
ready  for  the  supreme  draughts  made  upon  them, 
at  times,  in  speech.  There  is  a  right  place  m 
the  mouth  at  which  the  tone  should  be  made, 
and  a  right  way  to  utter  it.  The  voice  must 
be  rightly  "placed.  A  great  many  ministers 
have  never  bestowed  one  hour  s  thought  in 
learning  the  use  of  the  instrument  with  which 
they  must  do  their  work.  The  voice  comes 
forth  with  a  strain,  and  at  a  pitch,  that  tires  an 
audience  as  much  as  it  wears  upon  the  speaker. 
Is  there  anything  more  important  for  a  profes- 
sional talker  than  to  learn  bow  to  talk  ? 


Page  Twenty-Eight 


It  IS  certain,  that  learning  to  sing  aright  ad- 
vances tne  use  or  the  speaking  voice.  It  trains 
the  Dreathing  and,  by  increasing  the  ease  oi 
speaking,  adds  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  speaker 
and  hearer. 

At  the  basis  of  all  natural  and  telling  elocu- 
tion lies  the  proper  formation  and  enunciation 
of  the  vowels.  This  cannot  better  be  learned 
than  in  lessons  from  some  competent  singing 
master.  One  of  our  pastors  testifies  that  he 
never  received  the  slightest  help  in  speaking 
until  he  had  gotten  hold  of  this  method.  His 
college  professor  of  rhetoric  told  him  he  "  had 
no  ear.  More  than  one  teacher  oi  elocution 
turned  him  aside  as  an  unpromising  pupil. 
Afterwards,  going  to  a  professional  teacher  of 
singing  he  was  put  upon  the  right  path.  In  ad- 
dition to  certain  vocal  exercises  given  for  purity 
of  tone,  he  was  made  to  stand  at  the  end  of  a 
large  room  and  simply  read  aloud  so  that  every 
syllable  and  letter  of  the  word  could  be  dis- 
tinguished. By  this  method  every  vocable  was 
strengthened  and  made  to  play  its  appropriate 
part.  Beginning  very  slowly,  and  exaggerating 
at  nrst  the  stress  upon  each  separate  element, 
the  mouth  came  in  a  little  while  to  do  its  work 
without  effort,  or  even  consciousness  of  the  task. 
As  a  result,  the  speaker  found  his  own  style  and 
the  people,  without  knowing  what  to  attribute 
it  to,  felt  a  new  power  in  the  preaching.  It 
was   because   the   trained  voice  was   responding 

Page  Twenty-Nine 


naturally  to  the  thought,  and  making  the  proper 
nexus  between  the  speaker  and  his  hearers. 

Now  it  may  be  asked  why  this  is  not  rather 
the  work  of  the  teacher  of  elocution  ?  The 
answer  is  that  few  teachers  oi  elocution  will 
take  the  trouble  to  give  this  analytical  drill. 
Besides,  your  singing  teacher  follows  up  the 
analytical  work  with  vocal  exercises  which  de- 
velop purity  and  smoothness  and  strength  and 
proper  enunciation  of  the  tones.  Hundreds  of 
young  men  become  discouraged  in  the  study 
of  elocution  simply  because  the  organ  itself 
has  not  been  trained  to  give  the  expression 
demanded  of  it. 

It  will  be  seen,  at  once,  that  this  training 
conduces  also  to  facility  of  thought.  When  the 
vocal  organs  respond  strongly  and  sympathet- 
ically to  their  master  the  mind  is  freer  to  com- 
pose its  message.  The  trained  voice  reacts  upon 
the  thought  itself  and  upon  the  capacity  of  ex- 
pression. The  process  becomes  eventually  al- 
most automatic,  as  a  bird  s  wing  takes  the  bird 
just  where  it  wants  to  go. 

More  educated  clergymen  fail  from  inatten- 
tion to  this  than  from  almost  any  other  cause. 
The  people  are  clamoring  everywhere  for  a  bet- 
ter elocution  in  our  preachers ;  and  there  is  a 
measure  of  justice  in  their  demand,  trying  and 
unreasonable  as  it  may  seem  to  men  who  have 
the  more  important,  spiritual,  furnishing  for 
the  work.      Somebody   comes   along    with   not 

Page  Thirty 


one-hall  their  capacity  or  their  learning  and 
"  takes  the  people  s  ear,  and  we  thereupon  fall 
to  commenting  upon  the  wretched  popular  taste. 
"How  do  you  like  young  brother  Blank?  one 
of  our  prominent  divines  was  asked.  "  I  think 
he  has  a  very  large  voice,  was  the  answer ; 
and  it  was  not  in  this  case  an  ill-natured  com- 
ment. The  sermon  might  almost  have  been 
described  as  "vox  et  preterea  nihil.  Never- 
theless, it  observed  one  element  of  the  direction 
given  by  Martin  Luther  to  preachers  : 

"  Stand  up  promptly. 
Speak  out  boldly. 
Sit  down  quickly." 

It  was  Spoken  out  boldly,  and  the  confident 
manner  and  voice  awakened  expectation.  It 
raised  a  presumption,  too,  that  the  speaker  had 
something  to  say.  Instead  of  inveighing  then 
against  the  taste  which  can  discard  a  thoughtful 
address  for  such  a  performance,  let  us  rather 
criticise  the  culture  which  will  not  appropriate 
for  itself  that  which  the  most  uneducated  man 
may  make  an  element  of  success.  A  conse- 
crated minister  will  strive  to  train,  and  attune, 
the  mstrument  he  must  use  by  the  study  of, 
elocution,  poetry  or  any  other  art  that  will 
make  his  message  more  acceptable.  The  Master 
Himself  did  not  ignore  these  methods.  "  He 
opened  His  mouth  and  taught  them,  we  are 
told.      Dont  forget,  reverend  sir,  to  open  your 

Page  Thirty-One 


mouth.  "  He  stood  and  cried  to  the  multi- 
tudes— tnat  IS,  ne  took  tne  proper  posture  and 
tnen  He  exerted  nimselr  to  be  Heard.  We  can- 
not learn  from  Jesus  Christ  to  undervalue  any- 
thing, which  may  speed  the  thought,  more 
quickly,  to  the  heart  oi   the  hearer. 

So  much,  as  to  the  training  of  the  voice  for 
expression. 

But  a  knowledge  oi  music  may  even  improve 
one  s  style  of  composition  and  delivery,  giving 
a  sense  of  rhythm  and  balance,  and  teaching 
the  use  of  pause  and  climax.  There  is  undoubt- 
edly a  sympathetic  connection  between  all  the 
arts.  One  whose  ear  is  trained  to  Shakespeare  s 
later  blank  verse,  or  attuned  to  the  music  of  the 
sonnet  form,  in  which  "the  thought  constructs 
the  tune  comes  to  feel  the  subtile  connection 
between  form  and  content  in  all  good  writing 
or  speaking.  Music,  the  twin  sister  of  poetry, 
has  a  similar  influence  over  taste  in  expression. 
Why  do  we  speak  popularly  of  the  music  of 
the  orator  s  eloquence  ?  We  certainly  do  not 
refer  simply  to  the  quality  of  his  vocal  tones. 
Do  not  we  mean  that  his  thoughts,  also,  come 
forth  musically,  i.  e.,  rhythmically  and  harmoni- 
ously? Besides,  why  do  great  orators  so  often 
have  beautiful  voices  ?  Is  there  not  here  a 
suggestion  of  something  beneath  molding  all 
the  man  s  being  and  speaking,  harmoniously 
together  ?  That  execrable  style  of  speech  we 
call  "  sing-song     can  come  only  from  a  defective 

Page  Thirty-Two 


ear,  or  from  lack  oi  training  in  the  distinguish- 
ing of  musical  sounds. 

Moreover,  preposterous  as  it  may  seem  to 
some,  the  mental  discipline  of  music  is  not  to 
be  despised. 

Philip  Gilbert  Hamerton  affirms  that  music 
"has  an  important  influence  on  the  whole  of 
our  emotional  nature  and  indirectly  upon  ex- 
pression of  all  kinds.  "  He  who  has  once 
learned,  says  he,  "  the  self-control  of  the  mu- 
sician, the  use  of  piano  and  forte,  each  in  its 
proper  place,  when  to  be  lightly  swift  or  ma- 
jestically slow,  and  especially  how  to  keep  to 
the  key  once  chosen  until  the  right  time  has 
come  for  changing  it,  he  who  has  once  learned 
this  knows  the  secret  of  the  arts.  No  painter, 
writer,  orator,  who  has  the  power  and  judgment 
of  a  thoroughly  cultivated  musician,  can  sin 
against  the  broad  principles  of  taste.  This 
cannot  be  altogether  fanciful.  The  subtile  har- 
monies of  Beethoven,  and  Mendelssohn,  and 
Schumann,  certainly  tend  to  train  the  mind  in 
the  powers  of  abstraction  and  concentration. 
Who  that  listens  thoughtfully  has  not  felt  that 
music  resembles  a  process  of  pure  reasoning, 
every  melody  being  a  kind  of  syllogism  with 
its  premises  and  its  conclusion?  There  is  cer- 
tainly something  like  a  logical  progress  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  in  a  strain  of  music.  It 
is,  of  course,  to  be  understood  that  the  ideas 
suggested    by    music    are    what    are    known    as 

Page  Thirty-Three 


"musical  ideas,  — the  motifs,  pKrases  and  elab- 
orations or  musical  tnemes.  But  tne  invention 
and  development  of  these  is  as  distinctly  intel- 
lectual a  (eat  as  the  demonstrations  of  the 
higher  mathematics.  In  one  case,  the  mind 
works  with  the  symbols  of  the  sound-world ; 
in  the  other,  with  the  symbols  of  the  number- 
world  and  the  space-world. 

Then,  it  IS  not  amiss  to  urge — in  view  of  a 
contrary  impression  in  certain  quarters — that 
some  degree  of  skill  in  vocal  or  instrumental 
music  IS  quite  compatible  with  the  highest  intel- 
lectual powers.  It  IS  true  that  Thornwell  had 
little  musical  taste,  and  Robert  J.  Breckenridge 
IS  known  to  have  loathed  an  organ;  and  if  some 
other  noted  divines  have  any  musical  faculty 
whatever  they  have  hitherto  given  no  sign.  Of 
one  of  our  distinguished  Professors  this  incident 
was  told  me:  He  had  confessed  to  my  inform- 
ant that  he  could  distinguish  no  difference  be- 
tween tunes.  Just  then  a  cow  bawled  in  the 
street.  "  Now,  can  you  not,  he  was  asked, 
"tell  the  difference  between  that  sound  and 
your  wife  s  voice?  "Yes,  said  he,  in  his 
measured  way,  "  I  perceive  a  difference,  but 
one  is  as  musical  to  my  ear  as  the  other. 

On  the  other  hand,  Joseph  Addison  Alex- 
ander, the  Coryphaeus  of  Biblical  scholarship  in 
America,  was  noted  for  his  aesthetic  tastes,  and 
played  quite  skillfully  upon  the  flute;  and  Joseph 
H.  Duryea,  one  of  the  most  charming  preachers 

Page  Thirty>Four 


on  the  Continent,  could  delight  a  cultivated 
Boston  audience  by  his  mastery  of  the  organ. 
President  Scovel,  or  Wooster,  when  a  pastor, 
displayed  a  similar  versatility  and  the  musical 
accomplishments  or  the  lamented  Dr.  Maltbie 
Baocock,  also,  are  well  known. 

Many  cases  of  apparent  defect  are  probably 
due  to  the  non-cultivation  from  childhood  oi 
a  quite  sufficient  gift.  One  is  not,  then,  too 
hastily,  to  assume  that  he  cannot  learn  music. 
The  celebrated  Thomas  Hastings,  who  has  writ- 
ten some  of  our  most  valuable  church  tunes, 
learned  to  sing  only  by  the  most  laborious 
perseverance.  Dr.  Lowell  Mason  used  to  say 
that  any  one  who  could  speak  could  learn 
to  sing.  I  have  known  only  one  or  two  per- 
sons, with  an  ardent  desire  to  sing,  who  did  not 
meet  with  some  success.  They  failed  after 
many  strenuous  efforts  even  to  sing  the  scale; 
but  they  never  found  it  out,  and  for  aught  I 
know  they  sing  with  as  much  pleasure  to-day 
as  though  they  could  do  it  perfectly.  It  is  not 
every  man  who  knows  when  he  knows  ! 

If  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  may  cultivate  an 
accomplishment,  what  finer  accomplishment  is 
there  for  him  than  music  ?  How  wonderfully, 
too,  it  may  be  turned  to  account  in  his  work  ! 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  if  some  of  our 
clergymen,  who  are  diverting  their  energies  and 
destroying  their  pastoral  spirit  and  efficiency  in 
reading  up  for  professorships,  would  develop  in 

Page  Thirty-Five 


their  spare  hours,  some  practical  talent  like 
music,  they  would  be  happier  and  more  success- 
ful in  their  nelds. 

It  will  help  the  preacher  sometimes  also  to 
commend  the  truth,  as  I  endeavor  in  the  follow- 
ing lectures  to  show.  The  most  hardened  heart 
will  at  times  be  touched  by  music.  I  could 
multiply  incidents  and  testimonies  as  to  this. 

We  know  what  a  power  music  was  in  Luther  s 
hands:  "Many  a  wild  unutterability,  says 
Carlyle,  'ne  spoke  forth  in  the  tones  of  his 
flute.  He  used  himself  to  say  that  he  drove 
the  devil  from  him  with  his  flute.  You  remem- 
ber that  a  Catholic  opponent  once  compared  him 
to  Orpheus,  drawing  men  as  he  would.  "  Music 
is  a  discipline,  said  Luther.  "  It  softens  us. 
It  makes  us  temperate  and  reasonable.  I  would 
allow  no  man  to  be  a  schoolmaster  who  cannot 
sing,  nor  would  I  let  him  preach  either.  We 
are  hardly  ready,  however,  for  that.  It  would 
rule  out  some  of   our  greatest  preachers. 

There  is  still  another  consideration  of  no 
small  importance  to  a  cultivated  man. 

A  minister,  whether  he  sing  and  play,  or  not, 
needs  some  knowledge  of  music  to  keep  him 
from  making  indiscreet  and  unintelligent  refer- 
ences to  it.  There  is  nothing  necessarily  intel- 
lectual in  tossing  music  aside  as  fit  only  for 
nddling  youths  of  amatory  propensities,  and 
German  professors  of  bibulous  tastes.  In  this 
day  of  general  information  an  educated  minister 

Page  Thirty-Six 


assuredly  may  be  supposed  to  know  that  music 
is,  in  some  respects,  the  most  mtellectual  of  the 
arts.  This  is  true  even  ii  it  be  described  as 
the  language  of  feeling.  "  Rightly  understood, 
as  John  S.  Dwight  has  said,  "  there  might  not 
be  a  higher  definition.      The  poet  truly  sings: 

Thought  IS  deeper  than  all  speech 
Feeling  deeper  than  all  thought! 

But,  then,  he  means  the  feeling  which  is  deep, 
and  which  relates  us  to  the  highest  universal 
ends  of  being.  It  is  certain  that  music  belongs 
more  than  any  other  art  to  the  inner  world. 
It  plays  upon  man  s  nature,  too,  through  a 
greater  range  than  any  other.  It  can  lead  him 
in  a  Bacchanalian  revel;  it  can  voice  the  wor- 
ship of  the  soul  to  God.  Joined  with  poetry, 
it  can  take  for  its  subject  God  Himself,  and  the 
highest,  deepest,  subtlest  religious  conceptions, 
whilst  it  vies  with  poetry  in  ministering  to 
man  s  inmost  self. 

Music  is,  in  fact,  as  insisted  before,  the  product 
of  science  as  is  no  other  art.  Professor  Leslie 
pronounces  sound  the  subtlest  and  the  most  diffi- 
cult department  of  nature.  So  that  music  is 
emphatically  the  gift  of  science  to  the  world. 
It  has  taken  longer  to  develop,  though  one  of 
the  nrst  arts  to  begin  its  career.  Only  after  the 
most  patient  and  learned  investigations  have  the 
treasures  of  song  been  brought  from  nature  s 
store;  so  that  contrary  to  popular  impression, 
it    is    the    least  spontaneous   of  the   arts.      The 

Page  Thirty-Seven 


do  close  reproduction  oi  a  flower  or  fruit  may 
make  a  beautiful  painting,  but  wbere  are  tbe 
sounds  in  nature  wbicn  may  be  copied  to  make 
a  melody  ?  I  bave  sometimes  been  startled  by 
a  few  notes  from  a  rare  bird  tbat  suggested  and 
migbt  bave  given  tbe  bint  for  a  well  known  air. 
But  tbe  full,  rounded  melody,  witb  its  rise  and 
fall,  its  climax  and  its  anti-climax,  and  its  dis- 
tributed cadences,  wbere  is  tbat  to  be  beard  in 
nature  ?  It  is  tbe  result  of  tbe  patient  experi- 
ment, and  growing  tastes,  of  musical  scbolars  for 
ages.  Even  tbe  diatonic  scale,  wbicb  I  bave 
known  a  cbild  to  sing  before  two  years  of  age, 
IS,  as  I  bave  already  said,  tbe  product  of  science. 
It  is  now  believed  tbat  tbe  Egyptians  and  tbe 
Greeks  bad  tbe  diatonic  scale,  but  melody  in 
any  modern  sense  seems  to  bave  been  unknown 
to  tbe  ancients.  We  could  better  comprebend 
tbe  music  of  tbe  Greeks  and  tbe  Romans  if  but 
one  melody  survived  to  us.  Did  tbey  know 
music  in  our  modern  sense,  at  all  ? 

I  bave  lingered  somewbat  upon  tbis  tbat  I 
migbt  lay  a  basis  for  urging  my  bretbren  not  to 
join  in  Ignorant  flings  at  "  classical  music. 
Classical  music  is  music  at  its  best.  It  is  tbe 
creation  of  tbe  masters  of  musical  taste  : — Wbo 
IS  more  likely  tban  tbey  to  know  tbe  beautiful? 
Wbo  sbould  be  followed  if  not  tbey?  Let  me 
urge  you  tben  to  be  careful  bere.  Surely  a 
profession  wbicb  makes  sucb  frequent  reference, 
and  pays  sucb  deference,  to  tbe  acbievements  of 

Page  Thirty-Eight 


Raphael  and  Rubens  on  tne  canvass,  and  which 
decks  its  puhhc  addresses  with  elegant  allusions 
to  the  great  Cathedrals,  should  hold  itself  respect- 
ful, at  least,  toward  that  art  which  even  more 
wonderfully  than  painting  or  architecture  evinces 
the  creative  power  of  man.  Now,  classical 
music  is  not  only  the  perfection  of  music  itself, 
but  it  IS  the  source  of  practically  all  the  musical 
phrases  circulating  among  us  in  more  popular 
productions.  Recently,  I  came  across  "  Shoo, 
Fly !  in  a  Schubert  symphony.  The  well- 
known  college  song,  "  Have  you  no  feeling, 
to  see  me  kneeling  ?  is  cribbed  from  Von 
Weber  s  "Concertstuck.  The  "Boom  de  Ay, 
so  madly  rife  among  us  a  few  years  since,  is  a 
transcript  in  part  from  one  of  Mozart  s  Concerto 
themes.  The  "0,  Ye  Tears,  of  Abt,  is  plainly 
suggested  by  Beethoven  s  lovely  "Andante 
Favori,  for  the  piano.  Such  exceptions  as 
the  popular  melodies  of  Stephen  C.  Foster  are 
to  be  found,  but  these  are  hardly  exceptions. 
The  most  beautiful  phrases  of  the  song  can  often 
be  traced  to  the  older  forms  of  the  Masters,  and 
the  spirit  of  these,  at  least,  has  entered  into  the 
studies  of  our  popular  writers.  Recent  investi- 
gators suggest  the  connection  of  the  so-called 
Ethiopian  melodies  of  our  Southern  negroes 
with  strains  brought  over  by  the  Scotch-Irish 
and  the  Huguenots.  Whatever  the  value,  how- 
ever, of  our  native  themes  they  will  not  take 
their  place  as  musical  art  until  gifted  musicians 

Page  Thirty-Nine 


ior  them  what  Liszt  did  for  the  Hungarian 
melodies.  Music  is  not  indigenous  in  any  chme, 
except  in  very  elementary  forms.  The  music 
of  our  day,  I  insist,  is  the  result  of  men  s  labors 
and  thoughts  for  centuries,  and  should  be  cher- 
ished as  such.  When,  therefore,  I  hear  culti- 
vated men — as  ministers  nowadays  are  pre- 
sumed to  be — when  I  hear  such  men  setting 
aside  the  best  music  because  they  cannot  com- 
prehend it,  I  think  of  Turner  s  reply  to  the  lady 
who  protested  that  she  had  not  seen  a  certain 
familiar  landscape  as  he  had  painted  it, — "  Don  t 
you  wish  you  could.  Madam?  It  seems  to 
me  that  a  cultivated  man  would  wish  to  say, 
at  least,  with  Charles  Lamb,  "  Sentimentally,  I 
am  disposed  to  harmony,  though  organically  I 
am  incapable  of  a  tune. 

Now,  one  only  needs  to  listen  and  submit 
himself  to  the  spell  of  good  music,  and  he  will 
come  to  love  it  as  we  love,  after  fuller  acquaint- 
ance, all  the  great  art  and  literature  of  the 
world,  and  as  the  simplest  peasants  oi  Germany 
and  Italy  accustomed  to  it,  come  to  love  classic 
music.  But  m  any  event  every  minister  owes 
it  to  his  own  culture  and  to  his  public  influence, 
to  have  correct  ideas  upon  this,  as  well  as  upon 
other  subjects ;  and  as  I  have  endeavored  to 
show,  he  will  augment  his  power  largely  if  he 
have  not  only  some  musical  information,  but  if 
he  have  acquired  some  skill  in  singing  or  play- 
ing on  an  instrument. 


Page  Forty 


Ill 

Mtusic  as  a  '^^aclov  of  (ton^r^Qationai 
'power 

"As  some  to  cliurch  repair 
Not  for  tne  doctrine,  but  tne  music  there. 

— Pope 


LL  other  tilings  being  equal,  the  congre- 
gation wnose  musical  service  is  most 
worthy  and  best  conducted,  will  reach 
the  people  and  will  serve  their  needs  most 
effectively. 

It  will  generally  have  a  greater  number  in 
attendance,  for  nothing  draws  people  in  such 
crowds  as  music.  Like  all  good  things  this 
may  be,  and  often  is,  abused.  So  often  is  the 
music  put  forward  as  the  principal  thing,  or 
employed  for  artistic,  rather  than  for  religious 
results,  that  careful  people  sometimes  draw  back, 
fearing  that  its  elaborate  use  may  positively 
harm  the  church  s  standing  and  testimony.  But, 
as  has  been  well  urged,  the  very  anxiety  upon 
this  point  comes  from  "  an  intuitive  perception 
that  music  has  a  real  moral  and  religious 
power.        The  very  fact  that  the  enemy  uses  it 

Page  Forty-One 


for  his  purposes,  makes  it  vitally  important  that 
the  church  seize  and  direct  it  aright  for  her  own 
designs.  Rowland  Hill  s  oft-quoted  insistence, 
that  the  devil  be  not  allowed  to  have  all  the 
beautiful  music,  touches,  then,  the  true  philos- 
ophy of  this  matter.  "  Every  creature  of  God 
is  good,     says  the  Apostle. 

The  church  has  from  the  beginning  sought  to 
levy  upon  every  power  which  could  extend,  or 
deepen,  her  influence  over  the  people.  She  has 
subsidized  architecture,  painting,  sculpture  and 
poetry,  as  well  as  music.  Of  all  these  arts,  it 
may  fairly  be  urged  that  music  is  at  once  the 
most  indispensable  and  the  most  congenial  to 
the  experiences  and  expressions  of  religion. 
Nowhere,  in  either  dispensation,  or  under  any 
form  of  administration,  save  among  the  Quakers, 
and  for  a  time  among  the  Independents,  has 
music  ever  been  absent  from  religious  worship ; 
and  never  did  the  exceptions  more  perfectly 
prove  the  wisdom  of  the  rule.  When  the 
church  has  aroused  herself  to  call  the  multitude 
together,  she  has  put  the  silver  trumpet  of  music 
to  her  lips  ;  and  she  has  been  consistent  in  so 
doing.  One  would  nnd  it  hard  to  frame  an 
argument  legitimating  the  ngures  of  sacred 
rhetoric,  and  the  adaptation  of  the  beautiful  in 
architecture,  whilst  rejecting  the  glorious  minis- 
try of  music.  "  I  have  taken  you  with  guile, 
says  the  Apostle.  This  declaration  of  Pauline 
policy   echoes   one   of  the   Master  s   own    most 

Page  Forty-Two 


suggestive  commands  :  "  Be  ye  wise  as  serpents, 
and^narmless  as  doves.  He,  Himself,  argued 
on  this  line  to  His  disciples,  and  rallied  them  to 
an  equal  diligence  with  the  worldling  in  the 
service  of  their  Master. 

If  the  children  of  this  world,  then,  gather 
crowds  and  win  attention  hy  the  appeal  of 
music,  it  becomes  the  Children  of  Light  to  be 
as  wise.  The  employment  by  the  enemy  of 
"sacred  concerts  and  similar  questionable  en- 
tertainments on  the  Sabbath  should  not  then 
deter  us,  but  should  rather  make  us  strive  to  be 
as  shrewd  as  he,  in  appealing  to  the  whole 
nature  of  man. 

Now,  Mr.  Ruskin,  in  his  "  Queen  of  the 
Air,  pronounces  music  as  "the  first,  the 
simplest  and  the  most  effective  of  all  instru- 
ments of  moral  instruction,  though,  in  the  failure 
and  betrayal  of  its  functions,  it  may  become 
the  subtlest  aid  of  moral  degradation. 

Objectors  to  the  use  of  music  so  largely  in 
congregational  work  do  not  apprehend,  I  think, 
the  breadth  of  Christianity  as  a  working  force  in 
the  world,  nor  its  operation  of  all  the  agencies  m 
sight,  as  the  leaven  exploits  and  transforms  the 
the  meal  into  which  it  falls.  Our  Saviour  s 
parables  of  the  "Tares  and  of  the  "Net" 
rebuke  purists  of  every  sort — artistic  purists,  as 
well  as  religious  purists. 

Mr.  Barnby — a  great  name  in  church  music 
— in  copying  the  words  of  Pope,  quoted  before, 

Page  Forty-Three 


thus  comments  upon  them:  "Of  all  the  errors 
which  cry  aloud  for  a  remedy,  the  worst  to  my 
mmd  IS  perpetuated  m  the  endeavor  to  draw  a 
new  congregation  to  a  church,  or  to  fill  up  the 
thinned  ranks  of  a  decreasing  flock  hy  the 
exhibition  of  startling  novelties  and  what  I 
should  term  musical  tours  de  force. 

Another  objector,  an  anonymous  wag,  has 
served  up  the  matter  as  follows : 

"II  pulpit  utterance  won't  suffice 

To  win  tke  people  from  their  sins ; 
You  11  find  a  method  more  concise 
Than  preaching ;  play  on  violins. 

"  Or,  if  you  see  devotion  sinks 

Beneath  the  organ's  solemn  tones ; 
Increase  the  attractions  of  your  jinks. 
And  to  your  fiddlers  add  tromhones. 

"  If  still  the  people  stay  away. 

And  if  to  church  you'd  have  them  come; 
There  still  is  one  effectual  way 

To  catch  them — try  the  kettle-drum." 

How  absurd  to  such  ethereal  souls  must  seem 
the  employment  of  any  material  agency  to  reach 
a  spiritual  end !  We  wonder  how  they  can  use 
a  hymn  at  all,  since  song  is  only  vocalized 
breath,  and  the  working  of  the  jaws.  Why 
should  we  be  dependent  at  all  upon  such  means  ? 
Let  us  all  be  spiritual  at  a  leap !  Meanwhile, 
human  nature,  like  the  Ten  Commandments, 
"will  not  budge.  We  have  it  always  with  us 
and  out  of  it  the  Kingdom  is  to  be  composed. 
A  much  wiser  man  has  said,  "  First,  the  natural, 
afterward  that  which  is  spiritual. 

Page  Forty-Four 


I  do  not  know  how  far  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  will  be  accepted  as  an  authority  by 
you,  but  you  will  nnd  in  a  sermon  by  bim 
quoted  in  Hastings  "Sacred  Praise  over  fifty 
years  ago,  an  appeal  witb  characteristic  elo- 
quence for  a  recognition  of  the  religious  power 
of  music  itself,  as  distinguished  from  the  words. 
He  pictures  the  waking  up  of  a  congregation 
when  a  new  and  "taking  melody  is  joined 
with  a  familiar  hymn,  and  he  follows  in  his 
imaginative  way  that  melody  as  it  lingers  in 
the  memory,  recalled  and  whistled  by  the  way 
or  sung  over  and  over  in  the  home.  That 
melody  undoubtedly  was  a  divine  gift,  to  fix 
the  words  in  mind,  and  make  them  more  relish- 
able  to  the  heart.  The  beautiful  is  a  part  of 
God  s  own  creation  that  is  to  be  used  by  us  in 
the  name  and  for  the  service  of  the  Master. 
And  when  I  see  multitudes  plunging  down  to 
death,  led  by  the  terrible  fascinations  of  the 
devil,  I,  for  one,  feel  it  incumbent  to  use  every 
rightful  agency  which  can  attract  them  to  the 
hearing  of  the  Truth.  There  are  some  who 
will  not  be  drawn  at  all  save  by  such  methods. 
We  may  not  attract  those  who  desire  nothing 
beyond  sensuous  entertainment,  but  there  is  a 
yearning  in  every  man  for  the  beautiful  that  we 
must  satisfy,  else  we  have  not  used  one  of  the 
soul  s  greatest  powers  in  the  service  of  the 
Truth.  Music  does  not  belong  to  the  devil. 
Jubal  invented  the  pipe  and  the  organ,  but  he 

Page  Forty-Five 


and  his  line  have  not  been  able  to  keep  them. 
The  organ  is  a  ransomed  instrument.  It  be- 
longs to-day  to  the  church,  and  there  is  not  a 
tyro  in  our  midst  who  does  not  recognize  the 
incongruity  when  it  is  lowered  from  its  greater 
service,  or  who  does  not  feel  its  power  when 
the  church  appeals  to  the  people,  through  this 
greatest  of  musical  instruments.  Pray  tell  me 
for  what  use  a  magnincent  voice  or  skill  upon 
an  instrument  is  given  to  a  man  or  a  woman,  if 
not  for  the  service  of  God  s  church  ? 

The  music  is,  of  course,  not  to  be  made  an 
an  end  in  itself.  The  advertisement  of  musical 
programs  for  Sunday  services  has  seemed  to 
some  of  us  like  exalting  the  music  above  the 
sermon,  yet  it  need  not  operate  thus  if  the 
Word  be  given  its  proper  place  and  authority 
m  the  service.  Meanwhile,  we  must  deal  with 
human  nature  as  it  is. 

"A  verse  will  catch  nim 
Who  a  sermon  flies,' 

says  good  George  Herbert.  This  certainly  is 
quite  in  analogy  with  other  agencies  used  in 
religious  work.  The  display  of  a  picture,  or 
the  telling  of  a  story,  may  be  the  turning  point 
in  the  salvation  of  a  man. 

We  have  in  this  matter,  too,  the  best  of  all 
examples.  If  Jesus  Christ  Himself  would 
preach  to  a  multitude,  drawn  to  Him  chiefly 
for  the  loaves  and  fishes,  as  He  well  knew,  we 
may  not  discard  any  agency,  in  itself  innocent, 

Page  Forty-Six 


to  cliarm  tlie  ear  or  to  rivet  the  attention  or  the 
listener.  Missionaries  in  India  go  where  tne 
crowds  gather  and  they  hold  them  as  they  can. 
We,  too,  must  go  to  the  people  and  must  allure 
them  to  the  church.  We  must  give  them  the 
Gospel,  sugar-coated  with  something  they  like, 
if  they  will  not  hear  it  otherwise.  We  may 
not  yet  he  ready  to  approve  the  gifted  whistlers 
warhling,  in  some  churches,  or  the  use  of  the 
phonograph  or  moving  pictures,  hut  we  recall 
that  there  was  a  time  when  it  was  not  good 
form  to  allow  a  violin  in  the  Sunday  service. 
It  IS  not  yet  permitted  by  those  to  whom  a 
violin  IS  only  a  riddle. 

Now,  IS  not  this  the  principle  that  should 
govern  us  here — that  whatever  is  decorous  and 
acceptable  to  good  taste  anywhere  may  be  con- 
secrated for  religious  purposes?  It  may  hurt 
the  pride  of  some  of  us  to  see  that  people  can 
be  drawn  to  our  meetings  by  a  good  singer, 
who  would  not  come  to  hear  us  preach.  Shall 
we  not,  however,  be  glad  ii  we  can  even  in  this 
way  get  them  under  the  power  of  the  Word  ? 
If  Christ  drew  them  by  a  loaf  of  bread,  may  we 
not  attract  them  by  a  song?  "Notwithstand- 
ing every  way,  says  Paul.  We  are  all 
children  to  the  end,  and  there  is  scarcely  a 
preacher  in  the  land  who  would  not,  himself,  if 
a  visitor  in  a  strange  city,  be  attracted  to  the 
church  where  the  praise  of  God  was  heartily 
and  beautifully  sung,  rather  than  to  one  where 

Page  Forty-Seven 


it  was  carelessly  or  formally  offered.  The 
praise  service  may  absolutely  be  an  index  to 
tbe  character  and  extent  of  a  church  s  zeal  in 
reaching  men. 

The  pastor,  too,  needs  all  the  help  that  he 
can  get.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  employ- 
ment of  this  agency  has  rescued  many  a  pas- 
torate from  discouragement  and  defeat.  How 
can  one  preach  effectively  and  heartedly  with 
never  an  unfamiliar  face  before  him  in  the 
pews?  The  new  stream  of  people  gathered,  if 
for  no  more  than  curiosity,  "  to  see  or  hear  some 
new  thing,  like  Paul  s  audience  at  Athens, 
gives  a  zest  and  an  air  of  reality  to  the  occasion 
which  is  often  the  only  thing  needed  to  turn  a 
lifeless  sermon  into  a  thing  of  power.  Besides, 
sometimes,  those  "  who  come  to  scoff  remain 
to  pray.  Zaccheus  and  the  Athenians  were 
at  nrst  moved  by  curiosity;  and  there  are 
multitudes  who  attend  worship  every  Sabbath 
m  obedience  to  convention,  habit,  fashion,  or  a 
desire  to  be  entertamed,  who  get  something 
better  than  they  go  for.  If  we  are  to  be  nshers 
of  men,  we  must  bait  our  hook  with  something 
the  people  like. 

But  I  wish  to  emphasize  the  effect,  on  the 
preacher  s  own  soul  and  manner,  of  a  little 
popular  success  won  in  this  way.  The  sense 
of  mastery  that  comes  with  the  evidence  that  a 
response  can  be  evoked  somehow  from  the 
audience,    if  only   to    stand    and   sing,    is   very 

Page  Forty-Eight 


welcome  and  very  stimulating  to  a  pastor  who 
nas  been  completely  "flattened  out  by  minis- 
tering, in  stagnant  and  humdrum  conditions. 
The  pleasure  of  seeing  new  people  come  in  and 
flood  the  regular  congregation  out  or  their 
stereotyped  sitting,  thus  breaking  up  the  monot- 
ony and  stagnation  which  is  akin  to,  ii  not  the 
precursor  of  death, — these  "  trifles,  react  pow- 
erfully upon  both  pastor  and  people.  What  an 
aid  to  many  a  discouraged,  collapsed  preacher 
a  little  musical  revival  m  his  church  would  be ! 

There  is  also  the  impressive  power  of  music. 
It  cannot  be  superfluous  to  remind  my  brethren 
of  the  power  of  music  to  wing  the  truth  to  the 
heart,  so  long  as  multitudes  of  our  best  preach- 
ers have  never  learned  it  well  enough  to  try  it. 

A  writer:  in  one  of  our  dailies,  testifies  to 
the  enect  upon  his  own  heart  of  a  single  solo, 
sung  by  a  young  lady  of  the  choir  in  a  church 
into  which  he  had  gone,  out  of  curiosity,  one 
Sabbath  morning,  and  he  urges  that  music  be 
oftener  used  to  make  the  heart  ready  for  the 
reception  or  the  Truth.  What  pastor  has  not 
observed  the  better  preparation  of  the  people 
for  his  sermon,  as  well  as  the  stimulation  which 
came  to  his  own  mind  to  speak,  after  a  good 
choir  or  a  well-led  hymn  had  girded  the  congre- 
gation up  to  an  attitude  of  expectancy?  The 
great  example  of  Mr.  Moody,  whose  methods 
were  to  the  last  so  spiritually  conceived,  should 
be  instructive  to  us.      We  may  not  be  able  to 

Paige  Forty-Nine 


duplicate  his  gifted  singers  and  chorus  choirs, 
but  we  can  wield  a  greater  influence  over  the 
people  than  we  do,  if  we  will  use  those  within 
our  reach.  We  may  never  have  his  great 
crowds  waiting  upon  our  words,  but  if  we  will 
adopt  like  simple  agencies  we  will  have  far 
more  hearers  than  we  usually  do  to  preach  to. 
We  come  back  always  from  the  great  crowded 
services  with  one  reflection — how  simply  it  was 
done !  It  IS  always  so.  The  masses  will  not 
be  interested  in  disquisitions,  however  profound 
or  orthodox.  It  is  the  simple  thing — a  song,  a 
story,  a  touch  of  nature,  that  reaches  them,  and 
if  we  are  willing  to  forego  the  reputation  for 
great  intellectuality  and  to  bring  simple  truth  to 
bear,  either  in  sermon  or  song,  we  shall  find  a 
response  that  will  surprise  us.  In  my  child- 
hood it  was  the  singing  of  that  old  revival 
hymn: 

"  Come,  Kumble  sinner,  in  whose  breast 
A  thousand  thoughts  revolve  ; 
Come,  with  your  guilt  ana  rear  oppressed 
And  make  this  last  resolve,' 

With  its  weird  minor  melody,  which  threw  a 
spell  around  my  young  heart  which  I  could  not 
resist.  To  this  day,  I  cannot  hear  it  without 
being  profoundly  moved.  My  experience  in 
this  is  echoed  by  thousands.  We  forget  the  ser- 
mons, the  music  "  sticks.  To  neglect  a  power 
like  that,  or  not  to  consecrate  it  in  the  spirit 
in  which  it  IS  conceived,  is  to  despise  the  gifts 

Page  Fifty 


that  God  has  given  us,  and  to  be  recreant  to  a 
power  put  into  our  hands  to  move  men.  Do  not 
imagme,  then,  that  you  have  done  all  when  you 
have  prepared  your  sermon  careiully.  Remem- 
ber that  you  have  somethmg  to  do  m  prepar- 
ing the  soil  into  which  it  rails  ;  something  to  do 
in  bringing  the  emotional,  aesthetic  nature  of 
your  hearers  into  sympathy  with  the  Truth. 

Dr.  Breed,  in  his  sententious  way,  exclaims: 
"  How  much  easier  it  is  to  touch  and  move 
souls  already  vibrant  with  holy  emotion  !  and 
we  have  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  s  opinion  as  to  the 
help  which  music  may  bring  to  the  preacher,  in 
the  following  words:  "Singing  is  the  circulat- 
ing medium  of  worship.  It  distributes  the 
fervor  of  each  Christian  among  his  brethren 
and  equalizes  the  devotion  or  the  whole  body. 
The  preacher  cannot  furnish  both  incitement 
and  susceptibility.  What  minister  cannot  feel 
the  difference  in  the  touch  of  a  congregation 
that  has  risen  just  before  the  sermon  and 
poured  itself  out  in  an  inspiring  and  hearty 
hymn  of  praise,  from  that  of  an  audience  that 
has  been  simply  sitting  and  listening  to  a  mu- 
sical performance  ?  If  any  fact  has  been  made 
clear  to  me  in  my  pastoral  experience  it  is  this, 
that  people  who  enter  heartily  and  enthusiastic- 
ally into  the  worship,  as  earnest  participants, 
can  be  inspired  with  interest  and  moved  to  duty 
with  half  the  labor  which  would  otherwise  be 
required.      To   throw   a   word    into   hearts   that 

Page  Fifty-One 


are  all  resonant  with  devotion,  to  touch  chords 
tliat  are  all  vibrant  with  sympathetic  feeling — 
there  is  a  real  delight  in  this. 

Study,  then,  for  yourself,  this  amazing  power 
of  music  over  the  multitude,  and  thank  God  for 
it,  and  use  it  as  His  gift  to  you,  hy  which  you 
may  bring  greater  numbers  unto  Him. 


Page  Fifty-Two 


!Jltuslc  as  tl)<^  Vehicle  of  t^z  (Tburc^'s 
"praise 

"There  let  the  peahng  organ  blow 
To  the  full-voiced  quire  below. 
In  service  high,  and  anthems  clear. 
As  may  with  sweetness,  through  mine  ear 
Dissolve  me  into  ecstacies 
And  bring  all  heaven  before  mine  eyes.  " 

— Milton 


F  we  knew  that  He  would  hear  us,  we 
would  smg  to  Him  !  In  these  pa- 
thetic words,  one  of  the  Congo  tribes 
expressed  their  feelings  to  Shepherd,  the  mis- 
sionary, when  he  told  them  of  the  true  God 
and  His  desire  for  their  worship. 

It  was  their  own  spontaneous  thought — "  If 
we  knew  that  He  would  hear  us,  we  would 
sing  to  Him.  What  an  evidence  of  the  heart  s 
own  natural  desire  to  offer  something  to  God, 
and  of  the  intuitive  perception  in  the  simplest 
minds  of  the  function  of  music  in  winging  a 
message  from  man  to  God!  Among  the  Hin- 
doos, in  their  Vedic  hymns,  and  among  the 
Greeks,  in  their  songs  to  Apollo,  the  same  great 
instinct  of  Praise  to  the  Creator  broke  forth 
into  song. 

Page  Fifty-Three 


Tne  Praise  oi  God  is  undoubtedly  the 
supreme  and  ultimate  runction  oi  music  in  tne 
House  of  God.  In  insisting  on  other  uses  of 
music,  I  would  DC  understood  as  holding  them 
ever  subservient  to,  and  promotive  of,  this 
eventual  purpose  of  our  appearing  before  God. 
Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer  has  eloquently  said:  "It 
would  appear  that  worship  must  be  the  absorb- 
ing employment  of  the  creature.  Everything 
must  flow  into  this  in  the  end.  All  the  obedience 
of  the  Christian,  all  the  active  service  which 
he  renders  to  the  church,  all  the  knowledge  he 
acquires  of  Divine  things,  all  the  grace  minis- 
tered to  him  by  the  Spirit,  all  the  emotions  of 
love  and  joy  which  may  lighten  his  experience 
— all  this  must  resolve  at  length  into  praise 
and  go  up  as  the  incense  of  acceptable  worship 
before  God. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  signalizes  "  the 
sacnnce  of  praise,  as  the  one  oblation  that  now 
remains  to  us,  and  this  ever  to  be  offered  under 
the  leadership  of  the  great  High  Priest  of  our 
profession.  With  this  very  evident  truth  in 
mind,  we  need  no  further  proof  that  the  offering 
should  be  the  very  best  that  is  possible  to  us. 
I  would  as  soon  think  it  necessary  to  show  the 
permissibility  of  the  highest  offerings  from  the 
seraphic  host  in  heaven.  What,  but  the  best,  is 
good  enough  for  God,  or  worthy  of  the  creature 
in  heaven  or  earth  ?  It  is  only  because  it 
IS  the    creature  s   best   offering  that  it   becomes 

Page  Fifty-Four 


true  worsKip,  and  acceptable  to  God  at  all. 
Now  this  principle  leads  straight  to  a  conse- 
crated art  in  the  service  or  worship.  An  elo- 
quent Scotchman  urged,  at  one  oi  the  Pan- 
Presbytenan  Councils,  that  art  had  ever  been 
a  temptress,  and  an  enemy  to  purity  in  wor- 
ship. But  it  has  been  cogently  replied  that 
the  subtile  danger  from  this  source  only  neces- 
sitates more  imperatively  the  bringing  or  all  the 
believer  s  powers  under  the  dominion  of  grace. 
The  remedy  is  not  to  be  found  in  abandoning 
the  field.  Besides,  the  worshipper  is  not  at  lib- 
erty to  withhold  any  gift  he  has.  The  offering 
IS  imperative.  It  is  not  what  is  permitted  to 
him,  or  what  he  chooses  to  bring.  The  pos- 
session of  a  gift  implies  a  duty.  It  is  to  reflect 
honor  upon  the  giver  as  he  offers  it  to  his 
Maker.  A  bird  glorifies  its  Maker  by  pouring 
out  a  flood  of  song ;  it  is  an  unconscious,  un- 
trained act  on  the  part  of  the  bird.  So  a  great 
voice  is  given  a  man  or  woman,  not  only  to 
please  themselves  or  to  delight  others  withal, 
but  to  train  for  the  praises  of  its  Giver. 

We  have  beaten  out  too  nnely,  perhaps, 
what  was  plain  enough  as  a  principle.  It  is, 
however,  not  often  enough  recalled  in  connec- 
tion with  questions  of  worship  and  permissible 
things  in  the  House  of  God. 

If  I  am  asked,  then,  what  kind  of  music  we 
should  have  in  the  church,  I  must  answer — 
good  music ;   all  kinds  of  good   music.      There 

Fage  Fifty-Five 


should  be  the  dedication  of  the  highest  taste 
and  talent  oi  the  congregation  in  the  service. 
There  is  a  place  for  every  kind  of  offering, 
whether  from  choir  or  chorus,  or  from  the  con- 
gregation itself.  Sometimes  a  congregation  can 
voice  its  own  feelings  best  through  a  choir  or 
chorus  trained  to  a  musical  expression  impossi- 
ble to  the  average  audience. 

There  is  a  just  and  sanctined  impatience  with 
practices  which  slight  or  stifle  the  general  praises 
of  the  people,  But  so-called  congregational 
music  is  often  not  a  worthy  exponent  of  the 
theory.  I  have  never  heard  poorer  congrega- 
tional singing  than  in  some  congregations  which 
have  insisted  most  exclusively  upon  it.  The 
people  need  strong  leading  in  this,  as  in  every- 
thing else.  A  great  deal  can  be  done,  as  I 
believe  and  know,  in  the  way  of  developing 
the  singing  of  the  people,  but  it  is  not  by  slight- 
ing other  forms  of  musical  service,  nor  by  set- 
ting aside  the  members  of  the  congregation  best 
endowed  to  lead  the  praise.  We  will  not 
further  the  people  s  singing  by  cutting  off  the 
special  service  of  choir  and  solo  and  chorus. 

There  is  besides  this,  a  New  Testament 
breadth  which  many  good  people  have  not 
apprehended.  The  Apostle  exhorts  us  (in 
Eph.  V:  15-19):  "Be  not  drunk  with  wine, 
wherein  is  excess,  but  be  filled  with  the  Spirit, 
speaking  to  yourselves  (or,  rather,  one  to  an- 
other) in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs. 

Page  Fifty-Six 


singing  and   making   melody  m  your   hearts  to 
the  Lord. 

Now,  there  is  here,  as  some  thmk,  a  general 
warrant  to  use  music  as  the  worldling  uses  wine, 
to  heighten  the  spirits,  and  to  produce  effects 
upon  the  emotions,  hy  music,  which  draw 
people  to  the  service  and  hold  them  under  its 
spell.  I,  myself,  hold  to  this  interpretation  of 
the  text ;  hut  if  this  be  rejected,  none  can  dispute 
the  allowance  here  of  concerted  music  in  the 
sanctuary.  We  are  to  sing  "one  to  another, 
as  well  as  in  the  chorals  of  the  entire  congrega- 
tion. This  is  in  line  with  the  antiphonal  ser- 
vices of  the  Temple,  and  it  justifies  the  modern 
congregational  and  evangelistic  methods,  which 
employ  the  solos  and  choruses  of  a  choir,  as 
well  as  the  singing  of  the  people.  We  may  sing 
"  one  to   another      as  well   as  directly  to  God. 

Now,  IS  there  not  too  little  discrimination  in 
the  way  that  many  excellent  people  dispose  of 
this  matter?  Is  there  not,  sometimes,  an  un- 
conscious selfishness  in  the  demand  that  our  own 
conscience,  or  our  own  taste  shall  control  in  the 
character  of  the  music  ?  If  music  were  only  a 
matter  of  taste,  it  should  still  be  amenable  to 
the  law  of  love ;  for  we  are  to  regard  one 
another  s  tastes.  But  it  is  a  matter  of  con- 
science, as  well,  and  of  service.  Should  not, 
then,  the  consciences  of  all  be  respected,  if  there 
be  those  who  do  not  feel  that  they  can  worship 
God  becomingly,  except  with  the  best? 

Page  Fifty-Seven 


But  why,  upon  any  ground,  should  fine  art 
be  decried  in  our  cnurcnes?  Is  not  art  a 
development  oi  God-given  instincts  ;  and,  if  so, 
IS  not  musical  art  as  legitimate  in  the  sanctuary 
as  pictorial  and  sculptural  art  ?  What  better 
right  have  we  to  appeal  to  the  eye  than  to  the 
ear?  Why  may  we  have,  as  urged  before,  the 
most  exquisite  and  varied  architectural  designs, 
and  deny  music,  the  very  daughter  of  the 
Temple,  her  opportunity?  Why  is  a  comfort- 
able cushion  more  allowable  than  a  delicious 
chord,  or  an  edifying  succession  of  sweet 
sounds?  Because  it  can  be  abused,  is  music 
not  to  be  used  at  all,  in  its  highest  forms,  and 
most  elaborate  combinations  ?  Mr.  Beecher  s 
comparison  of  a  fugue  to  "a  cat  running  around 
after  its  tail,  and  Dr.  Talmage  s  travesty  on 
the  choir  s  rendering  of  the  "  ointment  running 
down  Aaron  s  beard,  down — down — down — to 
the  skirts  of  his  garment,  are  very  diverting, 
and  are  very  justly  aimed  at  extravagant  and 
irreverent  musical  performances ;  the  remedy, 
however,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  rejection  of  art 
altogether,  but  in  a  truer,  better-conceived  art 
for  the  sanctuary.  Besides,  the  needs  of  all 
classes  of  worshipers,  I  repeat,  are  to  be  re- 
spected here ;  and  some  of  us  are  more  depen- 
dent on  the  music  than  on  the  architectural 
surroundings.  There  is,  I  am  pleased  to  see, 
an  increasing  number  of  persons  who  can  dis- 
cover no  reason   for    tolerating    insipidity   and 

Page  Fifty-Eight 


bad  taste  m  our  churcK  music  if  they  can  be 
avoided.  They  regard  it  as  a  matter  of  con- 
siderable consequence  that  tne  music  of  our 
cnurcbes  be  improved. 

All  this  is  said,  whilst  conceding,  of  course, 
that  music  has  in  itself  no  religious  character. 
Dr.  J.  G.  Holland  well  says  that  "  there  is  no 
more  reformatory  power  in  music  than  m  the 
lowest  of  menial  pursuits.  The  farmer  who 
lives  half  the  time  among  his  brutes,  is  likely 
to  be  a  better  man  than  he  who,  successfully 
interpreting  some  great  master,  bows  nightly 
before  the  storms  of  popular  applause.  This 
may  be  granted.  It  must  also  be  confessed  that 
there  may  be  a  very  artistic  production  of  the 
greatest  sacred  compositions  without  much  sug- 
gestion of  devotion  in  singers  or  people.  The 
finest  rendering  of  Handel  s  "  Hallelujah 
Chorus,  I  ever  heard,  surpassing  festival 
choruses  heard  in  Cincinnati  and  New  York,  I 
heard  at  the  Salt  Lake  City  Tabernacle,  from 
a  Mormon  choir.  At  the  same  time,  in  com- 
pany with  a  large  number  of  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  there  present, 
I  heard  a  most  skillful  address  dedicated  to  the 
praises  of  Mormonism.  But  do  we  decry 
rhetoric,  because  it  can  be  so  abused?  Why, 
then,  nx  a  stigma  upon  classical  music,  because 
its  most  skillful  performers  are  not  always  its 
worthiest  representatives? 


Page  Fifty-Nine 


Musical  art,  like  every  other,  Kas  no  character 
in  itself.  We  have,  however,  to  account  for  the 
fact  that  the  greatest  music  somehow  is  reverent. 
Over  much  oi  even  the  highest  instrumental 
music  might  be  written  "  religioso.  The  slow 
movements  of  Beethoven,  Mozart,  Mendelssohn 
and  Spohr  adapt  themselves  wonderfully  to  the 
expression  of  reverent  feeling  in  the  sanctuary. 
They  represent  the  deeper  insight  of  great 
natures  into  the  world  of  beauty.  They  prove 
that  all  the  creation  of  God  is  pervaded  with 
thought  and  beauty,  and  that,  by  association  with 
suitable  words,  music  can  be  made  promotive 
of  religious  sentiments  in  the  soul.  The  history 
of  art  well  sustains  this  view.  The  first  works 
of  the  Greek  artists,  as  you  know,  were  chaste. 
Standing  close  to  nature,  their  art  had  not 
become  a  panderer.  The  great  harmonies  in 
the  natural  world,  likewise,  are  co-ordinated  to 
man  s  deepest  being,  and  in  the  highest  art  these 
are  brought  together.  It  is  a  fact,  too,  that 
however  unworthy  the  lives  of  many  great 
musical  artists  may  have  been,  great  composers 
like  Bach,  Handel,  Haydn,  Mozart,  Beethoven 
and  Mendelssohn,  have  been  men  ot  decided 
religious  character  and  life. 

Hundreds  could  testify  that  instrumental 
music,  alone,  is  edifying  at  times  in  public  wor- 
ship. The  opening  chords  of  the  organ,  that 
king — or  rather  that  "  Parliament  of  instru- 
ments,    as  it  has  been  called — tend  to  subdue 

Page  Sixty 


tne  spirit  and  bring  it  into  reverent  and  atten- 
tive mood  oetore  God,  I,  tor  one,  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  service  of  a  nne  organ-opening  in 
putting  me  into  the  spirit  of  worship. 

Nevertheless,  music  should  undoubtedly  be 
kept  secondary.  It  is  interpretative.  It  is 
adjuvant.  It  is  to  honor  and  advance  some- 
thing beyond  itseli ;  and,  there  is,  it  must  be 
confessed,  too  much  forgetfulness  of  this,  even 
m  our  Protestant  worship.  The  opening  mu- 
sical service  or  a  certain  Presbyterian  church 
in  one  of  our  cities  consumed  twenty-two  min- 
utes. There  sat  the  pastor,  surcharged  with  his 
message,  impatiently  crossing  one  knee  over  the 
other.  He  was  not  allowed  even  to  offer  the 
Invocation  until  the  concert  was  over.  I 
thought  that  that  was  too  much  of  a  good 
thing. 

Music  may  lift  the  soul  as  on  wings  to  God, 
but  when  a  choir  usurps  in  the  people  s  mind 
the  place  of  God,  it  has  no  more  right  in  the 
sanctuary  than  so  many  cackling  geese  or  howl- 
ing dervishes.  It  is  an  impertinence  that  should 
somehow  be  abated  or  rebuked. 

I  will  not  undertake  to  advise  you  now  as 
to  what  music  should  be  sung,  what  hymnals 
used,  what  composers  principally  honored. 

There  are  several  very  good  hymnals  in  use. 
Of  one  or  two,  however,  I  have  thought  that  if 
either  happened  to  be  the  particular  one  de- 
voured  by   the  cannibals  of  Timbuctoo,  when 

Page  Sixty-One 


they  "ate  the  missionary  and  the  hymn-book- 
too,  the  poor  man  got  a  swift  and  terrible 
revenge.  There  are,  however,  a  great  many 
things,  and  a  great  many  tastes,  to  be  taken  into 
account  in  making  a  church  hymnal.  There  is 
call  not  only  for  a  scholarly  acquaintance  with 
church  music,  but  for  a  recognition  of  what  will 
please  the  people.  I  believe  as  Benson,  Breed, 
Dumeld,  and  others  have  urged,  that  the  general 
usage  of  the  churches  determines  at  last  the  best 
hymns  for  congregational  use.  When  this  seal 
has  been  put  upon  them  the  worshipers  should 
not  be  arbitrarily  deprived  of  them,  nor  should 
they  be  annoyed  by  ill-considered  changes  in  the 
words,  nor  by  the  introduction  of  unfamiliar 
harmonies  to  familiar  tunes.  There  are  some- 
times more  ways  than  one  to  harmonize  a  pas- 
sage. Too  often  our  learned  doctors  give  us 
an  exquisite  harmonizing  that  better  befits  an 
organist  s  nngers  than  the  voices  of  a  worship- 
ing congregation.  The  bass  should  be  simple, 
and  flowing  and  singable ;  the  tenor  not  too 
high.  I  hear  a  great  many  give  as  reason  for 
not  singing  that  the  tunes  are  pitched  too  high. 
I  do  not,  however,  think  that  this  is  generally 
true.  I  have  a  feeling,  though,  that  the  Church 
of  England  hymns  are  dominating  too  largely 
our  hymnology.  Many  of  these  sound  more 
like  an  elegant  four-part  song  than  the  strong, 
sturdy,  and  impressive  hymns  of  a  congregation. 
We  need  some  of  these,  of  course,  but  it  is  my 

Page  Sixty-Two 


opinion  that,  after  all,  the  Gregorian  hymn,  and 
hymns  of  that  cast  and  spirit,  should  furnish  a 
larger  part  of  our  church  singing.  I  am  clear, 
too,  that  we  pastors  should  use  our  own  denom- 
inational hymnals,  if  possible.  It  makes  for 
uniformity  of  worship  and  it  operates  ultimately 
to  develop  the  best  hook  for  our  own  particular 
needs. 

I  am  urging  throughout  these  talks  that  the 
best  music — most  classical,  if  you  please, — 
should  be  held  before  our  congregation  as  a 
standard  and  goal;  meanwhile,  that  a  pastor 
should  select  the  music  that  the  people  will 
"take  to  most  heartily.  It  is  necessary,  first 
and  chieny,  that  God  be  praised.  The  vehicle 
used,  the  degree  of  taste  or  culture  attained, 
must  vary  with  the  cultivation  and  musical 
knowledge  of  the  singers.  I  do  not  myself 
hesitate  to  use  often  in  song-services,  and  in 
night-meetings,  the  Gospel  Hymns,  or  similiar 
popular  songs,  because  the  general  acquaintance 
with  these  assures  greater  unanimity  and  heart- 
iness in  the  singing;  at  the  same  time,  I  am 
ever  trying  to  introduce  the  greater,  more 
worthy  devotional  music,  and  it  is  my  experi- 
ence that  the  people  come  to  love  this  when 
they  are  patiently  and  skillfully  led  up  to  it. 

There  are  times  when  only  the  older  tunes 
like  Dundee,  Mear,  Antioch,  Arlington,  Lisbon, 
Trinity,  Hebron,  Dennis,  Downs  and  Solitude 
voice  the  deeper  feelings  of  the  masses ;   whilst 

Page  Sixty-Three 


our  beautiiul  modern  tunes  by  sucn  composers 
as  Barnoy,  Dykes,  Monk,  Gilchrist,  Gower, 
Hopkins,  Smart,  Stainer,  Sullivan  and  others 
are  getting,  more  and  more,  a  hold  upon  the 
popular  heart. 

It  IS  seli-evident,  I  insist,  to  the  devout  mind 
that  only  the  best  in  any  art  or  department  is 
good  enough  tor  God  s  worship,  i.  e.,  the  best 
which  the  individual  himself  can  render.  Let 
us  ever  remember  that  back  of  the  gift  is  the 
giver,  and  that  "  the  gift  without  the  giver  is 
bare. 


Page  Sixty-Four 


I3be  'pastor's  delation  to  tl)<i  ^uslc 

"  If  tne  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  souna. 
Who  shall  prepare  himself  to  the  battle?" 

—St.  Paul 

HE  pastor  IS  the  leader  of  the  praise,  as 
of  all  tne  otner  work  and  worship  of 
the  congregation.  It  is  not  meant 
that  upon  him  rests  the  decision  of  everything 
connected  with  the  musical  service.  He  is  not 
to  supplant  the  responsibility  of  officers  and 
people,  especially  those  of  musical  gifts.  That 
would  put  the  worship  of  the  congregation  at 
the  mercy  of  every  passing  pastor ;  this  is  too 
much  the  case  at  present.  He  is,  however,  in 
charge  of  all,  and  he  is  ultimately  responsible  in 
this  department,  just  as  tor  the  financial  and 
spiritual  interests  of  the  church.  Except  in  the 
smaller  churches  he  will  take  little  direct  control, 
even  if  he  have  great  musical  gifts.  In  churches 
however  test  furnished  musically,  he  can  be 
greatly  helpful.  He  can  be  at  least  "  the 
animating  center      of  all. 

He  can  "  make  much      of  this   part   of  wor- 
ship.     He  can  emphasize  the  importance  of  the 

Paee  Sixty-Five 


hymn-singing  and  the  spirit  oi  praise  in  the 
cnurcn  s  worship,  though  he  may,  himself,  be 
without  special  musical  taste.  The  people  will 
always  take  their  key  and  cue  from  him.  If  he 
slight,  hurry  over  or  make  nothing  of  the  praise 
services,  the  majority  of  the  people  will  treat 
them  m  the  same  way.  It  is  not  enough  to  say 
that  the  people  should  sing.  He  should  see 
that  they  sing.  He  should  listen  for  their 
singing  and  call  attention  to  neglect  or  slovenli- 
ness in  congregational  worship,  and  he  should 
commend  them  when  they  sing  with  zest  and 
heartiness.  Above  all,  a  pastor  should  himself 
sing,  or,  if  he  cannot,  he  should  at  least  follow 
the  singing  attentively  with  book  in  hand.  One 
who  ever  saw  Dr.  W.  M.  Taylor  at  the  Broad- 
way Tabernacle,  standing  reverently  and  taking 
part  fervently  with  the  people  in  the  singing, 
has  an  indelible  lesson  always  in  mind  on  the 
importance  of  the  minister  s  example.  He  will 
also  suspect  that  something  more  than  the 
eloquence  of  that  Prince  of  preachers  called  the 
multitude  together.  Good  music  is  one  of  the 
conditions,  now-a-days,  of  pastoral  success. 
The  most  popular  and  eloquent  of  preachers, — 
Henry  Ward  Beecher — confessed  his  indebted- 
ness to  John  Zundel  and  his  chorus  choir,  and 
Dr.  Talmage,  too,  was  careful  to  have  a  great 
organ  and  a  fine  cornetist  to  lead  the  singing  of 
the  people.  All  of  our  great  modern  "Masters 
of  Assemblies     have  thus  magnified  the  musical 

Page  Sixty-Six 


part  of  the  service,  and  Have  given  their  per- 
sonal attention  to  it. 

The  habits  of  some  ministers,  however,  dur- 
ing this  part  of  the  worship  amount  almost  to 
an  indecorum.  The  hymn  is  hstlessly  an- 
nounced, with  no  indication  that  the  pastor 
personally  cares  very  much  ahout  it,  and  the 
learned  brother  takes  his  seat  and  begins  to 
survey  "  the  makeup  of  the  congregation,  or 
to  study  his  notices,  or  to  complete  his  toilet 
by  rubbing  his  spectacles,  or  by  blowing  out 
his  nostrils  like  an  engine  on  a  switch  blowing 
out  her  flues.  If  this  ordained  and  consecrated 
gentleman  has  never  suspected  that  he  is  the 
leader  of  the  people  s  praise,  why  has  he  never 
learned  to  show  respectful  deference  to  other 
people  s  efforts  to  praise  God,  or  how  to  behave 
himself  in  the  House  of  God  during  that 
exercise.  God  did  not  make  all  good  people 
competent  musicians,  but  He  did  give  them  the 
ability  to  honor  the  Church  s  ordinances,  and 
thus  to  take  part  spiritually  in  them. 

But  this  IS  not  the  worst.  It  is  no  slander 
to  assert  that  certain  of  the  clergy  treat  the 
musical  features  of  worship  with  a  virtual  con- 
tempt. They  not  only  do  not  ever  themselves 
try  to  sing,  or  urge  others  to  sing,  but  they 
speak,  sometimes,  with  levity  of  musical  gifts 
and  musical  people,  and  of  the  incidents  and 
necessities  of  the  praise  service.  In  their  whole 
ministerial   life  they  never  give  so  much  as  one 

Page  Sixty-Seven 


earnest  thought  as  to  how  the  praises  of  our 
Redeemer  are  to  be  rendered  more  general,  or 
offered  more  worthily  by  the  people.  Such 
brethren  should  ponder  the  telling  words  of  Dr. 
Waldo  S.  Pratt  in  his  "Musical  Ministries:" 
"  If  downright  work  for  the  sake  of  the  parish 
music  is  not  worth  the  time  it  takes,  then  no- 
thing can  justify  the  extensive  use  of  music  that 
we  make  in  our  parishes.  If  should  be  abolished 
or  else  taken  hold  of  in  a  way  that  the  Head 
of  the  Church  evidently  intends  it  to  be  of- 
fered. From  the  same  author  we  commend 
the  insistence  that  "  the  whole  subject  of  church 
music  is  no  mean  subject  to  be  casually  or 
flippantly  dallied  with  in  a  light-hearted  and 
superficial  spirit,  and  that  the  care  of  it  and  the 
steady  pressure  towards  the  highest  ideals  in  it, 
are  responsibilities  entrusted  most  of  all  to  the 
minister.  It  will  not  rise  higher  than  it  stands 
in  the  average  ministerial  estimation. 

Let  me,  in  this  connection,  commend  the 
estimate  Richard  Baxter  placed  on  music  in  the 
worship:  "I  have  made  a  psalm  of  praise  in 
the  holy  assembly  the  chief  delightful  exercise  of 
my  religion  and  my  life,  and  have  thou  helped 
to  bear  down  all  the  objections  which  I  have 
heard  against  church  music. 

We  prescribe  a  Bible  Reading  to  these  thought- 
less brethren  on  the  place  of  music  in  both 
Testaments,  from  the  elaborate  musical  arrange- 
ments m  the  Temple  services,   to  the  reverent 

Page  Sixty-Eight 


singing  of  our  Master  with  his  disciples  in  the 
most  critical  hour  of  His  life.  It  is  certain, 
too,  from  the  quotation  we  have  already  made 
that  Paul,  the  redoubtable  theologian  and  the 
ardent  missionary  of  the  church,  did  not  slight 
or  underrate  the  religious  meaning  and  uses  of 
music. 

It  may  be  said  again,  for  your  encourage- 
ment, that  there  is  no  better,  nor  simpler, 
method  by  which  to  arouse  interest,  and  awaken 
an  earnest  spirit  in  stagnated  congregations, 
than  to  work  upon  this  tack  a  while.  In  no 
other  way  can  you  so  easily  infect  them  with 
your  own  spirit.  The  people  enter  the  church 
often  with  a  listless  and  preoccupied  manner ; 
they  sit  back  in  the  pews,  the  body  relaxed,  and 
in  the  posture  of  waiting.  They  are  in  the 
attitude  of  recipients  watching  what  the  leader 
IS  going  to  ask  them  to  do.  You  are  in  a 
commanding  position,  rising  and  speaking  in  an 
active,  aggressive  way.  You  are  there  to  elicit 
whatever  response  you  can  from  the  people. 
What  better  way  offers  itself  to  establish  an 
understanding  at  once  with  your  audience,  than 
in  the  hymn  singing?  That  is  something  they 
are  all  to  do,  and  do  in  the  church  before  you. 
They  will  sit  or  they  will  stand,  they  will  turn 
the  leaves  to  something  grave  or  something 
joyful,  as  you  select.  In  this  part,  above  all, 
the  leader  makes  the  service.  You  can,  your- 
self, give  to  it  the  character  desired.      If  it  is  to 

Page  Sixty-Nine 


be  a  joyml  triumphant  service,  you  can  make  it 
so.  If  you  wish  to  induce  a  more  reflective 
serious  spirit,  you  can  do  that.  God  has  given 
you,  in  the  hearts  of  your  people,  a  lyre  to 
play  upon.  In  no  way,  I  repeat,  can  you 
better  or  more  quickly  establish  personal  rela- 
tions with  your  hearers.  What  does  a  minister 
mean  by  throwing  away  such  a  power  as  that  ? 

I  am  anxious,  too,  to  meet  the  objection  that, 
because  one  is  not  a  singer,  he  cannot  inspire 
and  direct  the  music.  Mr.  Beecher  was  not  a 
great  singer  but  he  made  himself  felt,  somehow, 
in  this  department  of  worship.  He  protests 
against  "the  idea  abroad  that  the  preacher  is  to 
teach  and  preach,  and  another  man  is  to  sing, — 
the  music  farmed  out  and  the  unity  of  the 
public  service  marred  by  two  systems  of  exer- 
cises conducted  by  different  persons. 

I  do  not  know  what  Mr.  Spurgeon  s  musical 
gifts  were,  but  Mr.  Curwen,  after  a  visit  to  his 
church,  says  that  "Mr.  Spurgeon  evidently 
takes  delight  in  the  service  of  song  and  is 
anxious  above  all  things  that  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  place  should  sing. 
Occasionally  he  will  stop  the  congregation  and 
make  them  sing  more  softly,  or  more  quickly, 
when  the  effect  is  felt  in  a  surprising  degree. 

The  leader  of  a  congregation  must  lead.  It 
is  better  for  him  sometimes  to  make  mistakes  m 
time  or  taste  than  to  be  retired  from  the  direct 


Page  Seventy 


control  of  all.  The  people  must  feel  his  heart 
in  all  the  service. 

It  should  not  need  to  be  said  that  we  advo- 
cate no  meddling  dictatorial  spirit  towards  the 
church's  music.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  one  who 
can  be  discreet  and  tactful  elsewhere,  as  every 
successful  pastor  must  be,  will  try  to  sway  and 
influence,  rather  than  to  force,  his  people  into 
the  desired  channels. 

As  to  the  use  of  your  own  musical  gifts,  I 
would  say :  If  you  have  a  decided  musical 
talent,  by  all  means  use  it.  You  will  not  sing 
a  solo,  of  course,  unless  it  be  in  an  occasional 
familiar  service,  and  when  your  people,  whose 
intuition  here  is  to  be  trusted,  evidently  approve 
it.  Few  men  sing  as  well  as  they  think  they 
do.  Besides,  you  must  not  be  a  factotum. 
Let  your  singers  surpass  you.  Do  not  outsing 
your  tenor  or  your  bass,  even  if  you  can !  It 
is  enough  for  any  man  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
It  IS  well  to  know  how  to  save  a  falling  cause, 
sometimes,  by  a  prompt  note,  but  do  not 
appear  to  lead  the  choir  even  when  you  are 
guiding  all.  No  choir  can  like  that,  and  no 
choir  should  be  set  aside  in  that  way,  but  a 
little  direction,  such  as  a  slight  inclination  of 
your  head,  or  the  motion  of  your  hand,  or  the 
gentle  throbbing  of  your  book  may  be  needed  to 
keep  the  congregation  with  the  choir. 

It  may  seem  that  we  are  devolving  too 
much  upon  a  pastor  even  to  suggest   this  gentle 

Page  Seventy-One 


guidance.  I  do  not  see,  liowever,  how  a  mass  of 
people,  witn  choir  and  instrument,  are  to  keep 
together  without  a  leader.  I  attended,  recently, 
the  services  of  one  of  the  best  appointed 
churches,  musically,  in  the  country.  The 
organist  was  capable,  the  quartette  choir  made 
up  of  artists,  and  the  pastor  had  specially  ex- 
horted the  people  to  sing.  Yet,  I,  with  the 
mass  of  the  congregation,  had  difficulty  in  keep- 
ing with  them  in  the  hymn-singing.  The  choir 
were  singing  with  taste,  but  there  was  not  that 
steady,  almost  mechanical  leading  needed  to 
keep  a  mass  of  people  together.  The  pastor, 
with  good  sense  of  time,  could  have  made  them 
move  together,  and  without  calling  attention  to 
himself  at  all. 

The  minister  must,  however,  be  discreet  in 
assuming  to  direct  the  singing.  Be  careful,  too, 
in  your  public  references  to  the  choir.  Once 
in  a  while  in  an  unstudied,  delicate  way,  ex- 
press appreciation  of  faithful  service,  and  thus 
rally  your  people  to  their  leading.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  with  all  the  defects  of 
choirs,  the  faults  of  congregations  towards  them 
are  possibly  as  great,  especially  the  lack  of 
appreciation  of  well-intended  efforts. 

Another  thing :      Do  let  us,  as  preachers,  be 
awake  to  the  distinctive  faults  of  our  class.     A 
recent  paper  comments  on  "the  preacher- voice 
in  singing.      It   seems  they  can  tell  our  twang 
not    only    in    speech,   but    m   song.      But   why 

Page  Seventy-Two 


should  tliere  be  this  "  Holy  tone,  this  unctious 
mouthing  of  the  notes  in  song  any  more  than  in 
speech  ? 

Ministers  havmg  good  musical  capacity  will 
find  their  best  opportunity  in  the  prayer  meet- 
mg.  Leadership  there  will  generally  be  ac- 
corded you,  and  your  singing  will  not  be  judged 
as  art.  Something  is  to  be  said  on  the  other  side, 
but  I  like  to  lead  my  prayer-meeting  music, 
and  insist  upon  doing  so  if  it  be  dull  and  life- 
less, and  I  am  glad  to  fortify  my  own  judgment 
about  this  with  the  authority  of  Dr.  Abbott  E. 
Kittredge.  He  says:  "It  is  unwise  to  have 
the  choir  lead  the  singing  in  the  prayer-meeting, 
as  it  gives  the  appearance  of  a  musical  perform- 
ance. A  better  way  is  for  the  pastor  to  lead, 
and  every  pastor  should  know  how  to  sing. 

I  prefer,  also,  to  select  my  own  hymns  for  the 
prayer-meeting,  and  I  dislike  to  have  to  furnish 
them  to  an  accompanist  beforehand.  They 
should  be  announced  as  the  service  goes  for- 
ward, following  the  changing  spirit  of  the  meet- 
ing. If  the  player  cannot  play  readily  any- 
thing that  the  people  can  sing  readily,  you 
should  try  to  get  a  better  player  at  the  instru- 
ment. This  does  not  forbid  the  occasional 
calling  for  a  hymn  by  one  of  the  congregation, 
but  rather  contemplates  and  provides  for  that 
very  freedom  in  the  meeting. 

A  few  words  more  as  to  your  relations  to 
the  choir:      The  pastor  and  the  choir  should  be 

Page  SeTenty-Three 


the  best  of  friends,  and  the  heartiest  of  co- 
laborers.  The  choir  is,  after  all,  your  principal 
dependence  in  the  service  oi  praise.  I  may 
have  a  very  tender  regard  for  the  choir,  from 
having  begun  as  a  small  boy  at  the  pump- 
handle  of  the  organ,  and  passed  through  smging 
the  bass  in  the  choir  up  to  playing  the  organ  a 
little.  But  my  experience  as  a  minister  has 
even  increased  my  previous  estimate  of  the 
value  of  faithful  choir  service.  Some  of  the 
most  devoted  people  in  many  churches  are 
serving  God  by  the  dedication  of  their  musical 
talents.  Make,  then,  much  of  the  choir.  What 
if  it  have  faults  ?  You  are  not  presiding  over 
an  ideal  institute ;  you  are  taking  the  men  and 
women  at  your  command  and  making  what 
you  can  of  their  service. 

To  make  this  valuable  arm  of  service  enec- 
tive,  certain  simple  methods  may  be  resorted 
to.  You  should  speak  of  the  choir  s  anthems 
sometimes,  and  you  should  always  listen  to 
them.  Meet  with  them,  also,  at  times  and 
exchange  views  with  them  about  the  music. 
Give  them  your  hymns  promptly  for  the  Sab- 
bath services  and  have  them  occasionally  select 
their  own  favorites.  In  short,  you  should  deal 
with  them  as  friends  of  the  cause,  even  though 
this  may  be  a  pretty  violent  supposition  m 
some  cases,  requiring  the  strong  effort  of  a 
charitable  imagination. 


Page  Seventy-Four 


You  must  succeed  with  the  cKoir.  You  have 
your  own  proper  leaaersnip,  and  your  august 
responsiDinty,  out  I  forewarn  you  now  to  be 
careful  now  you  dmer  with  the  choir,  or  slight 
them,  or  interfere  with  them.  There  is  as 
much  human  nature  to  the  square  mch  m  the 
average  choir,  as  is  anywhere  to  be  found  upon 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  If  I  were  asked  to 
name  the  most  condensed  and  varied  assort- 
ment of  human  nature  anywhere  present  at  one 
time,  I  would  say,  at  once, — a  choir! 

But  it  IS  to  he  treated  as  an  existent  fact. 
More  than  one  minister  has  been  unhorsed  by 
tilting  at  the  choir,  and  has  left  behind  an  un- 
necessary quarrel  m  the  church.  The  choir  is 
far  deeper  grounded  in  the  affections  of  the  con- 
gregation than  most  pastors  are.  It  is  well  for 
some  preachers  to  remember  this.  As  a  general 
thing,  then,  save  for  a  little  shaping,  choirs 
should  run  themselves.  They  are  growths. 
This  IS  true  even  of  paid  choirs.  If  you  do 
not  think  so  try  to  make  a  choir,  out  and  out, 
sometime.  After  the  experiment  I  think  you 
will  wish  you  had  borne  with  the  one  you  had, 
and  that  you  had  prayed  for  it  a  little  more. — 
Query:  How  many  times  did  anybody  ever 
hear  a  choir  prayed  for? 

I  say  all  this,  believing,  as  a  jure  divine 
Presbyterian,  in  the  full  power  of  the  authori- 
ties of  a  church  over  the  music  ;  but  knowing, 
also,  that   the  members  of  the  session,  with  the 

Page  Seventy-Five 


most  pious  intentions,  are  not  often  capable  of 
giving  directions  here.  Tney  are  not  usually, 
themselves,  selected  for  their  musical  knowledge. 
It  behooves  them,  then,  and  it  is,  in  every  way 
best  for  the  cause,  for  them,  to  bear  with  the 
choir  as  they  can,  and  to  make  the  most  of 
them.  With  whatsoever  defects,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  they  are,  after  all,  the  fair 
counterpart  of  the  congregation.  If  there  were 
more  people  of  consecrated  gifts  in  the  audience, 
there  would  be  more  of  such  in  the  choir. 


Page  Seventy-Six 


■VI 
^l)e  "Xea5lng  of  tl)e  Musical  Service 

"  I  will  sing  with  the  Spirit,  and  I  will  sing  with  the  understand- 
ing also." — St.  Paul. 

|HE  leader  makes  the  meeting. — No- 
where IS  this  saying  truer  than  in  the 
musical  part  of  the  service.  It  is 
astonishing  how  ready  the  people  are  to  follow 
here.  "The  people  love  a  master,  said  a 
shrewd  old  pastor, — meaning  no  douht  that 
they  loved  to  follow  one  who  could  lead  them 
wisely. 

Now,  as  intimated  before,  it  is  in  the  musical 
service  that  the  rapport  between  the  leader  and 
the  worshipers  is  quickest  and  best  established. 
They  unite  in  prayer  together,  but  in  the  praise 
the  mouths  of  all  are  opened  and  thus,  too, 
they  open  their  hearts  to  God  and  to  each 
other. 

The  pastor  should  strive  to  impress  it  upon 
all  that  they  are  to  offer  something  as  well  as 
to  receive.  He  should  insist  that  if  one  cannot 
smg,    he    can    at    least    stand    with    others    and 

Page  Seventy-Seven 


speak  the  words  of  praise.  "  Let  all  the  people 
say,  Amen.  One  can  say  it  if  he  cannot  sing 
it.  He  can  intone  it.  He,  also,  can  offer  to 
God  the  music  of  his  soul  through  his  opened 
lips.  This  has  an  importance,  too,  beyond  the 
musical  service.  I  think  we  do  not  realize 
sometimes  how  much  the  backwardness  of 
service  in  some  persons  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  have  never  heard  their  voice  in  the  public 
worship  in  any  way.  They  have  had  no  train- 
ing whatever  in  expression.  In  this  necessity 
of  the  soul  life,  if  for  no  other  reason,  I  would 
found  an  argument  for  responses  m  the  public 
service.  Those  who  do  not  sing  or  respond  in 
any  way  are  losing  an  invaluable  training  in 
soul-expression.  They  are  failing,  too,  to  re- 
ceive the  help,  one  from  another,  which  the 
joining  in  the  song  will  bring  them.  Dr. 
Gordon,  as  already  quoted,  called  singing, 
happily,  "the  circulating  medium  of  worship, 
distributing  and  equalizing  the  fervor  of  each 
throughout  the  mass  of  worshipers.  It  brings 
about  such  an  "  equality  as  Paul  saw  in  another 
exercise  of  worship  (2  Cor.  VIII:  14,  15)  by 
which  those  who  have  a  superabundance  of 
fervor  share  it  with  those  in  whom  there  is  a 
lack  of  it. 

In  this  fellowship  of  worship,  then,  we  nnd 
our  nrst  suggestion  :  It  will  influence  the  selec- 
tion of  the  hymns.  The  people  should  be 
given  to  sing  what   the  mass  of   them  can  sing, 

Page  Seyenty-Eight 


and  what  they  like  to  sing.  The  best  music  is 
at  last  the  music  which  summons  forth  most 
heartily  the  praises  of  the  people.  A  skillful 
leader  can  in  time  train  them  into  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  very  best  music.  In  the  meantime, 
the  best  available  is  the  best. 

We  are  not  to  be  finical,  either,  in  our  de- 
mands. I  have  been  struck  with  the  contempt 
which  great  artists,  in  every  department,  have 
for  mere  "  exquisites.  Mendelssohn,  we  are 
told,  sat  down  in  the  most  unaffected  way  and 
played  for  his  friends  on  whatever  instrument 
was  at  hand — often  a  very  poor  one.  Joseph 
Hoffman  says  that  Rubinstein,  his  master, 
"never  seemed  to  care  whether  the  piano  was 
in  tune  or  not.  The  technical  critic  often 
loses  the  soul  of  the  thing.  Besides,  if  we 
wait  to  have  everything  perfect,  we  will  never 
get  practical  results.  Let  us  use,  by  all  means, 
the  music  that  the  people  love,  and  gradually 
train  them  to  love  the  best. 

It  is  well,  too,  to  remember  the  peoples 
rights  in  this  matter.  It  is  their  service.  It  is 
what  they  are  able  to  bring  to  God.  Nor  will 
a  reflecting  man  despise  the  peoples  judgment 
about  the  music.  Ordinarily  what  a  respectful 
audience  will  not  take  up  with  readily,  is  not 
the  best  for  the  sanctuary.  There  are  hymns 
and  tunes  which  appeal  to  people.  The  senti- 
ment touches,  the  rhythm  moves  them.  A 
doctor  of  music   may   prefer   something  else  as 

Page  Seventy-Nino 


nner  Harmony,  but  I  am  prepared  to  mamtam, 
tnat  valuable  as  is  bis  opinion,  in  its  place,  tbe 
instinct  of  a  devout  and  well-intentioned  con- 
gregation IS  usually  truer  for  worsbip.  Dr. 
Samuel  W.  Duffield  well  insists  tbat  "  wbat  tbe 
cburcb  universal  adopts  and  cbensbes  is,  by 
tbat  fact,  removed  botb  from  tbe  control  of  a 
picking  pedantry  and  a  cold-blooded  correct- 
ness. 

Tbe  service  is  not  for  tbe  salvation  of  tbe 
bymns,  but  for  tbe  blessing  of  tbe  people.  A 
godly  man  of  our  acquaintance  was  burt  to  tbe 
quick  on  being  told  by  Dr.  Cbarles  S.  Robinson 
tbat  "  My  Days  Are  Gliding  Swiftly  By  was 
not  a  bymn  but  a  religious  poem,  and  sbould 
not  be  used  as  a  bymn.  Tbe  Doctor  looked  at 
it  from  tbe  standpoint  of  bymnological  tbeory. 
Tbe  otber  believer  bad  beard  it  sung  in  bis 
cbildbood  by  Dr.  Nelson  bimself  and  by  people 
wbom  Dr.  Nelson  bad  taugbt,  and  it  always 
came  to  bim  as  tbe  expression  of  tbe  devoutest 
religious  sentiment ;  so  it  bas  to  multitudes  of 
worsbipers.  Our  definitions  must  quadrate 
witb  tbe  findings  of  religious  experience. 

Wbat  tbe  people,  tben,  do  not  take  to  and 
will  not  sing  after  a  fair  trial,  sbould  be  discon- 
tinued. It  IS  well,  tberefore,  to  watcb  for  tbeir 
response,  and  let  tbem  see  tbat  you  want  to 
know  wbat  tbey  tbink  of  a  particular  bymn  as 
an  instrument  of  praise.  Tbe  greatest  music  is 
at  last  tbat  wbicb  is  tbe  most  singable.      Wbat 

Paee  Eighty 


IS  better  music,  and  at  the  same  time  more  sing- 
able, than  "Antiocb  — Joy  to  the  World,  the 
Lord  IS  Come?  It  is  adapted  from  Handel; 
yet  the  best  evidence  of  its  rank,  to  my  mind, 
is  not  the  name  of  Handel  appended  to  it,  but 
the  way  the  people  universally  seize  it  and  sing 
it.  The  greatest  artists  in  every  department 
are  those  who  feel  and  voice  the  universal 
heart. 

It  IS  perfectly  clear  to  me  that  the  multitude 
will  not  Sing  songs  which  do  not  have  a  strong 
melodic  character ;  and  they  are  right  about  it. 
Delicious  as  a  nne  progression  of  chords  may 
be  to  an  instructed  ear,  it  cannot  be  gainsaid 
that  at  last  the  harmony  exists  for  the  melody. 
If  you  will  turn  to  any  tune  in  our  hymnals 
taken  from  Handel,  Haydn,  Mozart,  Beethoven 
or  Mendelssohn,  you  will  notice  that  their 
harmony  only  serves  to  make  more  clear  and 
beautiful  the  theme.  It  never  exists  for  itself, 
and  never  attracts  attention  to  itself.  We 
must  look  through  the  body  to  the  soul,  through 
the  style  to  the  thought  which  it  bespeaks. 

It  IS  not  ours  as  pastors  to  determine  what 
hymns  and  tunes  shall  go  into  the  books.  Each 
pastor,  however,  must  cull  from  them  for  the 
needs  of  his  own  church  and  for  the  particular 
service.  Besides,  we  have  no  occasion  to 
become  partisans.  We  need  all  the  grand 
hymns  which  have  come  down  to  us ;  we  need 
the  Gregorian  hymns  and  the  syllabic  hymns. 

Page  Eighty-One 


and  a  few  of  the  fugal  hymns.  We  need  the 
melodic  hymns  from  the  Wesleyan  period,  and 
we  need  the  Lowell  Mason  school  of  hymns. 
We  certainly  welcome  the  devout  and  elegant 
contributions  of  the  Anglican  composers,  and  it 
would  be  strange  ii  the  marvelous  outbursts  of 
song  called  out  by  the  Moody  revivals  did  not 
leave  some  treasures  in  our  Hymnody.  Any 
tune  surviving  to  us  from  the  distant  past  is 
presumably  good,  else  it  would  not  have  lived; 
but  I  believe  that  the  present,  too,  has  its  own 
gifts  of  inspired  song.  Mr.  Barnby  well  says : 
"  It  has  always  appeared  strange  to  me  that 
musicians  should  be  found  who,  whilst  admit- 
ting that  Seventeenth  Century  tunes  were  very 
properly  written  in  the  natural  idiom  of  that 
period,  will  not  allow  Nineteenth  Century  tunes 
to  be  written  in  the  idiom  of  their  day.  All 
of  these  have  been  developed  out  of  the  needs 
of  the  time,  and  an  instructed  pastor  can  em- 
ploy each  of  these  styles  as  needed. 

I  have  already  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  Gregorian  hymn  affords  the  best  model  for 
our  worship,  but  we  crave  at  times  something 
else.  I  gave  out  at  an  evening  service  in  a 
Western  city  church  recently,  the  hymn, 
"Through  the  day  Thy  Love  has  spared 
us.  I  had  nxed  myself  to  enjoy  the  tender  and 
worshipful  music  of  Barnby,  led  by  the  nne 
quartette  choir.  It  is  one  of  the  most  exquisite 
things  in  the  hymnal.     The   organist,  however, 

Page  Eighty-Two 


played  "Albert,  and  I  was  disappointed.  The 
latter  is  a  sterling  tune,  out  it  did  not  do  for  my 
religious  emotions  what  Barnby  s  lovely  setting 
of  the  words  would  have  done.  At  another 
time  Tallis  Evening  Hymn  would  have  been 
the  most  expressive.  It  is  really  a  greater 
hymn. 

Now,  why  should  we  confine  ourselves  to 
one  style  of  hymn  or  tune,  when  we  have  such 
treasures  in  all  the  styles,  and  can  enrich  our 
services  and  minister  to  our  people  s  needs 
accordingly?  It  is  amusing  the  contempt  that 
is  being  poured,  by  our  "higher  critics,  on, the 
fugal  hymns,  and  this  m  the  face  of  the  fact 
that  the  people  are  demanding  simple  songs  in 
that  very  style,  as  the  popularity  of  the  Gospel 
Hymns  attests.  Antioch,  and  Geneva,  and 
Miles  Lane,  and  Lenox,  are  popular  examples, 
in  our  hymnals,  of  this  class  of  tunes,  and 
what  better  have  we? 

It  is  evident  that  elaborate  fugal  hymns  can- 
not be  undertaken  in  the  present  state  of  musical 
knowledge,  but  a  few  more  or  them  m  a  sim- 
ple style  would  gratify  the  people.  I  confess 
that  the  syllabic  hymns  pall  upon  me  at  times. 
I  feel  their  grandeur,  but  my  taste  often  yearns 
for  something  more  free  and  flowing.  I  dissent, 
too,  from  the  sweeping  condemnation  sometimes 
passed  upon  all  sentimental  and  subjective 
hymns.  They  express  occasional  moods,  just 
as     the    autobiographical     expressions     of    the 

Page  Eighty-Three 


Psalmist  s  best  voice,  at  times,  our  own  soul  ex- 
periences. Music  is  at  last  the  language  of 
feeling,  and  the  best  people  do  not  always  feel 
the  same  :   our  Saviour  did  not. 

There  are  some  general  principles  applicable 
to  all  services.  It  should  never  be  lost  sight  of 
that  the  music  is,  in  every  part  of  it,  to  be 
treated  as  an  integral  part  of  worship,  and  not 
as  one  of  the  "  preliminaries  to  the  sermon  or 
address. 

It  IS  not  for  stuffing — something  put  in  to 
"  nil  up.  This  advice  may  not  bear  so  much 
on  the  regular  Sunday  service  lollowing  a  fixed 
order.  But  we  have  known  songs  sometimes 
thrown  into  meetings  as  a  kind  of  stuffing — a 
mere  placebo — until  the  time  rolls  around  for 
something  else.  This  is  a  grievous  wrong 
against  God  and  good  taste — "0!  reform  it 
altogether. 

Nor  IS  the  music  simply  for  entertainment, 
though  it  may  have  that  partial  purpose.  Paul 
prescribed  music  (Eph.  V,  18,  19)  as  men 
drink  wine  to  elevate  the  spirits.  I  think  he 
would,  therefore,  have  approved  the  use,  at 
times,  of  a  song  which,  by  its  very  rhythm, 
sings  a  sentiment  or  carries  a  telling  religious 
phrase  into  the  memory  and  into  the  heart,  or, 
which,  by  its  march-like  movement,  bestirs 
the  soul  to  action  for  God.  We  commend 
these  words  of  Paul,  both  to  our  religious 
purists  and  to  our  artistic  purists.      We  can  be 

Page  Eighty-Four 


easily  stricter  than  God  himself  in  our  theories. 
We  can  be  so  artistic,  or  so  severely  correct, 
that  the  heart  s  own  hie  will  he  crushed  out. 
"  Be  not  righteous  overmuch. 

Something  should  he  said,  also,  about  the 
place  of  particular  hymns  in  the  service.  Many 
ministers  do  not  seem  to  think  of  this  at  all, 
and  I  have  been  surprised  to  see  how  few 
choir  leaders,  when  left  to  select  the  hymns, 
pay  any  regard  to  this. 

There  is,  I  think,  a  simple  psychological  law 
nxing  the  place  for  the  introduction  of  particular 
hymns.  Adopting  the  old  division  I  may  say  : 
We  must  have  regard,  nrst,  to  the  intellect,  then 
the  feelings,  then  the  will.  This  general  order 
should  underlie  all  the  service — or  more  practi- 
cally, hymns  calling  to  praise  naturally  belong 
nrst.  These  may  of  course  be  used  for  their 
effect  at  any  time.  An  eccentric  evangelist  of 
my  acquaintance  used  sometimes  to  break  right 
off  in  his  address,  saying:  "  Oh,  I  know  what  is 
the  matter!  We  have  not  yet  praised  God  for 
what  He  is  going  to  do  for  us,  and  then  he 
would  announce  a  hearty  song  of  thanksgiving. 
Such  songs  may  thus  be  held  in  reserve  by  a 
skillful  leader  and  used  at  any  time  as  a  spur 
for  a  jaded  meeting.  Early  in  the  service,  too, 
come  songs  expressing  the  happiness  of  the 
people  in  being  together,  and  reciting  the  joys  of 
the  religious  life.  Next  may  be  invoked  hymns 
dealing    with     the     graver    sentiments    or     the 

Page  Eighty-Five 


deeper  mysteries  of  religion — hymns  embodying 
some  great  doctrine  or  fact  of  experience  or 
presenting  the  omces  of  the  Redeemer.  Hymns 
calling  to  action  manifestly  follow  these  appeals 
to  the  reason,  or  to  the  religious  consciousness ; 
the  truth  of  the  sermon  is  to  be  applied  or  the 
response  of  the  people  called  out.  This  is  the 
culmination  of  the  service,  and  a  wise  pastor 
will  rarely  surrender  this  place  to  any  choir 
selection,  unless  it  be  one  which  he  knows  will 
serve  the  desired  end. 

Dr.  W.  M.  Taylor  says  very  instructively : 
"  There  is  nothing  so  overpowering  to  me  in  the 
public  services  of  the  Sabbath  as  the  singing  of 
the  last  hymn.  It  gathers  up  into  itself  the 
whole  inspiration  of  the  occasion  and  sends 
pastor  and  people  forth  with  the  highest  and 
holiest  aspirations.  If  that  service  of  praise 
drags,  you  may  generally  conclude  that  you 
have  failed  in  your  sermon ;  but  if  it  rises  into 
the  fervor  of  a  devout  enthusiasm  and  stimu- 
lates every  one  to  unite  m  its  stram,  that  is 
the  attestation  that  the  hearers  have  been  bene- 
nted  and  the  prophecy  that  they  will  begin  to 
live  out  what  you  have  been  enforcing. 

A  word,  now,  as  to  the  time  in  which  hymns 
should  be  sung  :  I  am  certain  that  many  hymns 
should  take  a  slower  tempo  than  is  often  given 
them.  It  seems  to  be  thought  by  some  choirs 
that  all  hymns  are  to  go  vigorously,  even 
rapidly.      But  should   not   that  depend   on  the 

Page  Eighty-Six 


sentiment  of  tlie  words?  Tender  hymns  ad- 
dressed to  the  Saviour,  consolatory  hymns,  or 
hymns  in  which  reflection  is  more  prominent 
than  the  call  to  action,  should,  surely,  follow  a 
slower  pace.  The  hymn  is  not  just  to  be  gotten 
through  in  some  regulation  way  —  however 
artistic  that  may  be  supposed  to  be.  Each  one 
has  a  special  function  in  the  service,  and  should 
be  chosen  with  that  in  view. 

I  doubt,  too,  II  a  large  congregation  of  wor- 
shipers gathered  from  all  classes  of  the  people, 
should  be  expected  to  "  attack  a  hymn  as  a 
concert  chorus  or  a  "starchy  choir  would  sing 
it.  I  question  if  it  is  good  art,  not  to  speak  of 
good  worship,  There  is  a  simple  law  of 
physics  that  may  be  invoked  here.  The  very 
weight  of  a  mass  of  people  supplies  the  effect 
by  a  slower  movement  sometimes,  that  a 
smaller  body  like  a  choir,  or  chorus,  must 
quicken  its  pace  to  attain.  We  have  good  ex- 
amples, too,  in  this.  In  Germany,  the  land  of 
classical  music,  the  great  chorals  of  the  people 
are  sung  with  a  stately  and  a  lingering  tempo. 
That  would  be  best  here,  often,  if  all  of  our 
people  sang.  There  is,  besides,  a  movement  and 
a  tone  proper  to  sacred  music,  different  from 
what  IS  becoming  to  the  conservatory  and  the 
concert  room. 

I  am  glad  to  fortify  these  ideas,  arrived  at 
in  a  pastor  s  experience,  with  the  authoritative 
words  of  our  greatest   modern  musicians,  cited 

Page  Eighty-Seven 


by  Mr.  Curwen  in  Kis  "Studies  in  Worship 
Music.  Mr.  Monk  says:  "  Narrative  hymns 
should  be  sung  quietly;  contemplative  hymns 
slowly.  He  hesitated,  when  asked  to  put 
metronome  marks  with  hymns,  because  "speed 
must  always  vary  with  the  size  of  the  congrega- 
tion. A  large  congregation  sings  more  slowly 
than  a  small  one,  without  the  rhythmic  sense 
perceiving  any  difference.  The  lower  the  key, 
too,  as  a  general  thing,  the  slower  the  singing. 
Mr.  Smart  says:  "Those  who  have  had  the 
longest  experience,  as  Goss,  Hopkins,  and  such 
men,  are  the  authorities,  and  they  take  the 
tunes  slowly.  I  have  heard  certain  tunes 
rattled  off  like  a  jig.  To  think  that  people  who 
call  themselves  musicians  cannot  feel  a  thing 
better  than  that ! 

Oi  course  this  does  not  apply  to  a  congrega- 
tion at  the  other  extreme — singing  everything 
lifelessly  or  in  the  same  time.  I  think,  as  a 
general  rule,  city  congregations  are  led  too  rap- 
idly by  their  quartette  choirs ;  whilst  country 
churches  usually  sing  too  slowly  and  without 
proper  spirit. 

It  IS  well,  too,  to  notice  the  three  types  of 
hymns.  First,  the  grand  old  tunes  like  Old 
Hundred  ;  then  tunes  of  a  more  sweet  and  ilow- 
ing  style,  like  Melcombe.  Now  we  seem  to  be 
arriving  at  a  third  type  in  which  harmony,  not 
melody,  is  regarded,  and  in  which,  if  the  com- 
poser can  delight  the  ear  by  one  novel  progres- 

Page  Eighty-Eight 


sion,  he  can  die  happy.  The  hrst  type  is  awe- 
inspinng ;  the  second  gives  pleasure ;  while  the 
effect  of  the  third  is  generally  melancholy. 
The  tendency  oi  modern  writers  is  to  sacrifice 
the  melody  to  the  harmony.  The  tune  is  in 
the  harmony,  which  at  once  removes  it  from 
the  use  of  many  congregations. 

We  are  evidently  to  connne  ourselves  to  no 
one  style,  and  we  are  to  use  our  taste  and  our 
religious  instincts,  singing  slow  or  fast,  as  the 
sentiment  or  occasion  demands. 

I  am  glad  to  invoke  the  judgment  of  the 
same  experienced  pastor  quoted  before.  Dr. 
Taylor,  as  to  reading  the  hymns.  He  says : 
"  Read  the  hymns  distinctly  and  appreciatively 
as  you  give  them  out.  That  which  is  worth 
singing  well  is  worth  reading  well.  If  you  are 
careless  or  indifferent  about  the  latter,  the 
people  will  be  also  about  the  former.  Do  not 
name  the  hymn,  and  sit  down,  as  if  you  were 
in  haste  to  get  through  the  service.  In  public 
worship  nothing  should  seem  to  be  huddled  up, 
— 'He  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste. 
If  you  believe  that  God  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
people,  you  will  be  reverently  calm.  Many 
leap  over  the  reading  of  the  lesson  and  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  hymns  as  if  they  were  riding 
a  steeple-chase,  and  eager  only  to  get  as  soon 
as  possible  to  the  benediction.  Take  time,  and 
by  your  reading  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people 
lor  turning  the  poetry  into  praise. 

Pace  Eighty-Nine 


A  pastor  can,  sometimes,  m  this  way  preach 
a  better  sermon  tlian  he  has  prepared,  and  after 
a  careiul  analysis  oi  the  writer  s  thought  one, 
without  great  gifts  as  a  reader,  can  fix  valuable 
truths  in  mind.  If  a  minister  take  care  to 
study  his  hymns  a  little,  before  the  service,  he 
will  be  able  to  do  this.  Indeed,  hymnology  is 
a  branch  of  literature  that  will  repay  for  its 
own  sake  all  the  study  one  can  put  upon  it.  Our 
principal  hymns,  at  least,  ought  to  be  so  well 
known  to  a  pastor  that  he  will  be  ready,  at  any 
time,  to  read  them  with  appropriate  emphasis. 
The  farther  one  goes  into  this  study  the  more  he 
will  recognize  that  our  great  hymns  are  really 
mspirations  of  the  Spirit  of  God  for  the  per- 
manent use  of  believers.  They  are  born  of 
great  soul-experiences,  and  help  to  weld  together 
the  universal  host.  Many  of  them  are  marvel- 
ous statements  of  the  Gospel ;  little  sermons 
in  themselves,  and  often  suggestive  of  most 
profitable  lines  of  thought  to  the  preacher. 
There  are  many  fine  works  on  the  hymns.  I 
know  of  none  uniting  so  much  valuable  in- 
formation about  hymns  and  hymn-tunes,  as 
Dr.  Breed  s  book.  Every  pastor  should  pos- 
sess it. 

When  it  IS  necessary  to  omit  stanzas,  you 
cannot  avoid  mistakes  save  by  yourself  reading 
the  hymn  carefully  beforehand.  The  annals  of 
the  pulpit  are  rife  with  diverting  and  disastrous 
episodes  due  to  carelessness  here.      I   give  you 

Page  Ninety 


the  effect  oi  the  omission,  by  a  certain  minister, 
ot  a  stanza  from  a  well  known  hymn : 

1.  "When  thou  my  righteous  Judge  shalt  come 

To  take  thy  ransomed  people  home. 

Shall  I  among  them  stand? 

Shall  such  a  worthless  worm  as  I, 

Who  sometimes  am  alraid  to  die; 

Be  (ound  at  thy  right  hand? 

***** 
3.  "  Prevent,  prevent  it  by  thy  grace  !  " 

Another  clergyman,  whose  attention  was 
nxed  entirely  upon  his  sermon,  aid  not  realize 
the  incongruity  felt  by  his  congregation  when, 
on  a  brilliant  June  morning,  he  gave  out  these 
lines : 

"  Lord,  what  a  worthless  land  is  this 
That  yields  us  no  supply  !  " 

Another  minister,  who  had  read  a  forgotten 
notice,  after  correction,  fervently  announced 
this  hymn : 

"  Lord,  what  a  thoughtless  wretch  was  I !  " 

Enough  has  been  cited  to  show  what  a 
dangerous  thing  a  hymn  is  in  careless  hands. 
Even  the  Doxology  is  not  always  in  taste.  A 
clerical  friend  told  me  of  acting  with  other  minis- 
ters as  a  pall-bearer  at  the  burial  of  a  minister  s 
wife.  The  disconsolate  widower,  before  they 
parted,  said  with  much  feeling:  "Brethren, 
will  you  now  sing,  Praise  God  from  whom  all 
blessings  now.  I  add,  in  this  digression,  the 
story  ringing  through  the  seminaries  of  the  reply 
of  Prof.  Austin  Phelps,  when  asked  by  a 
student  what  hymn  should  follow  a  sermon  just 

Page  Ninety-One 


preached  before  Kim.  He  suggested:  "Now  I 
lay  me  down  to  sleep. 

Let  these  mcidents  nx  in  mind  the  close  con- 
nection between  the  preaching  and  the  praise. 

I  have  spoken  of  omitting  stanzas.  It  is  im- 
possible to  adhere  to  the  plan  oi  always  sing- 
ing all  the  verses,  especially  in  the  prayer-meet- 
ing. Dr.  Kittredge,  in  his  practical  directions 
about  that  service,  says:  "Never  give  out  an 
entire  hymn,  except  perhaps  at  the  beginning  of 
the  meeting.  Have  a  great  deal  of  singing,  but 
only  one  or  two  verses  at  a  time,  and  let  them 
be  appropriate  to  remarks  ]ust  made,  or  follow- 
ing prayers  for  special  objects.  Thus  the  im- 
pression IS  deepened,  for  the  hymn  is  often  a 
sermon  in  itself. 

As  to  the  selection  of  hymns,  it  is  perhaps 
best  that  there  be  one,  and  often  two,  in  every 
service,  of  the  most  familiar  to  be  found.  One 
will  have  to  move  for  a  while  in  a  very  narrow 
orbit  to  do  this.  You  will  be  surprised  after 
making  a  list  to  discover  how  few  hymns  are 
thus  available,  possibly  only  thirty  or  forty, 
but  the  number  can  be  gradually  increased.  If 
a  pastor  is  considerate  of  the  capacities  and 
tastes  of  the  general  congregation,  they  will  be 
willing  to  follow  his  leading  by  easy  stages  into 
newer  nelds. 

A  remark  is  ventured,  in  closing,  on  the 
custom  of  having  the  choir  sing  during  the  offer- 
ing of  the  people  s  gifts.      It  strikes  the  speaker 

Page  Ninety-Two 


as  both  bad  worship  and  bad  art.  If  the  choir 
are  entitled  to  a  separate  number,  they  have  a 
right  lo  the  attention  of  the  worshipers,  and 
their  engagement  with  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  offering  of  the  people  has  its  own 
proprieties,  as  no  single  part  of  the  service  is 
more  symbolically  expressive  of  the  people  s 
entire  attitude  to  God.  It  should  not,  then,  be 
confused  with  anything  else.  The  coalescence 
of  the  giving  and  the  praise  is  harmful  to  both. 
Besides,  it  smacks  too  much  oi  an  American 
device  to  save  time.  It  breeds  confusion.  Let 
us  praise  when  we  praise  and  offer  when  we 
offer. 

It  may  be  replied  that  the  playing  of  an 
organ  offertory  at  the  same  time  violates  the 
principle  announced,  but  I  think  this  is  a 
strained  view  of  the  matter.  If,  however,  that 
be  true,  the  organ  should  be  quiet  and  the  noise 
of  the  dropping  of  the  gifts  should  make  the 
only  accompaniment  to  the  giving.  I  believe, 
however,  that  an  organ  number  at  this  stage 
does  a  nne  service  in  stimulating  "meditation 
which  may  thus  happily  be  made  a  distinct 
feature  even  of  a  public  and  general  service. 

This,  too,  can  be  overdone.  I  attended  a 
communion  service  recently  where  the  organist 
nlled  in  every  moment  of  the  time  usually 
reserved  for  quiet  at  the  table,  with  an  ornate 
melody.  It  was  tenderly  and  beautifully 
played,  but  it  distracted  the  communicants  from 

P«g«  Ninety-Three 


their  own  meditations.  I  observed  more  than 
one  beating  time  to  tbe  music  instead  of  trying 
to  nx  tbeir  attention  upon  tbe  trutbs  symbolized 
in  tbe  ordinance.  At  tbe  risk  of  being  voted  a 
"  back  number,  I  protest  earnestly  against  tbe 
intrusion  of  anything  upon  tbe  privileged 
privacy  of  tbe  soul  at  tbat  bour,  At  tbe  open- 
ing of  tbe  seventh  seal  "there  was  silence  in 
heaven  about  tbe  space  of  half  an  hour. 
Silence  is  sometimes  the  most  effective  and 
most  helpful  speech,  and  music  is  never  more 
impressive  than  after  a  season  of  quietness  with 
one  s  own  soul.  But  it  is  more  in  this  instance 
than  a  question  of  taste.  The  Master  has 
selected  the  symbols  by  which  He  will  Himself 
speak  to  the  people,  and  His  message  should 
not  be  intercepted  by  either  the  preacher  or  the 
choir. 

At  another  service  I  found  my  prayer  of 
Invocation  being  accompanied  by  the  organist. 
In  many  churches  tbe  organ  plays  while  the 
minister  is  making  the  consecration  prayer  over 
the  offering.  This  is,  to  my  mind,  disrespect- 
ful to  God.  A  prayer  is  not  a  performance, 
and  no  performance  should  be  made  a  part  of 
prayer.  Nothing  can  add  impressiveness  to  tbe 
soul  s  simple  address  to  God,  and  nothing  can 
can  be  truly  artistic  which  lacks  in  reverence  to 
Him. 

If  I  am  wrong  in  these  strictures,  it  is  cer- 
tainly not,  as  the  reader  must  see,  because  I  do 

Page  Ninety-Four 


not  magnify  the  exquisite  function  of  music  in 
worship,  but  rather  because  I  think  I  see  more 
clearly  the  subsidiary  place  of  any  art  in  the 
House  of  God. 

These  suggestions  are  submitted  with  all  defer- 
ence. I  am  not  so  desirous  oi  having  you 
adopt  any  plan  of  mine  as  to  have  you  realize 
the  importance  of  giving  careful  attention  to 
these  details  which,  of  necessity,  are  left  finally 
in  the  pastor  s  own  hands. 


Page  Ninety-PiTc 


^^e  "Pevelopment  of  (Tongresatlonol 

"  Both  young  men,  and  maidens  ;   old  men  and  children  ; 
Let  them  praise  the  name  o{  the  Lord.  " 

—The  Psalter. 

E  may,  next,  ask  what  can  be  done  to 
improve  the  smgmg  m  our  churches  ? 
It  cannot  be  so  simple  a  matter  as  the 
champions  oi  exclusively  congregational  music 
would  have  us  believe,  else  it  would  not  need 
so  much  effort  to  bring  it  about.  It  music  be 
the  easy  product  of  nature,  why  do  not,  and 
why  will  not,  the  people  smg?  And,  especially, 
why  will  not  some  of  those  who  are  most  ex- 
acting, and  most  importunate,  lor  congregational 
singing — why  will  not  they  sometimes  try  to 
sing? 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  explanation  is  very 
simple: — The  people  at  large  cannot  sing. 
There  is  neither  a  very  general  ability  nor,  in 
fact,  a  very  general  desire  to  sing.  This  sounds 
very  discouraging,   I    grant,  and   one   may  ask, 

Page  Ninety-Seven 


whence,  then,  is  congregational  music  to  come? 
I  answer  that  it  must  manifestly  be  the  outcome 
of  general  musical  culture.  It  can  never  rise 
higher  than  that.  Whenever  you  hear  good 
churcn  music,  you  may  be  sure  that  it  is  due  to 
the  presence  m  the  congregation  of  people  who 
love  music,  and  who  sing,  and  who  study  music 
elsewhere. 

I  cite  as  a  striking  proof  of  this  the  worship 
of  tbe  Welsh  people.  Among  them  you  will 
hear  the  finest  congregational  music,  because  the 
mass  of  the  people  are  students  of  music.  You 
will  distinguish  in  their  churcn-singing  not  only 
the  strong  leading  of  the  women  s  voices,  but 
the  accurate  taking  of  the  tenor  parts,  and  the 
majestic  movement  of  the  basses  as  they  supply 
tbe  foundation  for  the  rich  and  varied  harmony. 
The  effect  of  this  upon  the  worshipers  is  mar- 
velous. A  God-given  musical  taste  is  satisfied, 
and  they  realize  at  the  same  time  that  they  are 
bringing  to  God  their  worthiest  offering  from 
the  realm  of  music.  This  has  come,  however, 
from  the  training  of  the  people  in  their  great 
Eisteddfods  where  the  most  skillful  part-singing 
IS  developed  in  public  contests  stimulated  by 
coveted  honors  and  awards. 

But  Germany  is  the  greatest  case  in  point. 
It  IS  the  land  of  the  people  s  choral  because  it 
IS  the  land  of  the  oratorio  and  the  symphony. 
The  land  of  "  Folk-song  is  the  land  of  John 
Sebastian  Bach,  the  most  learned  of  composers. 

Page  Ninety-Eight 


When  musical  culture  becomes  thus  difFused 
m  America,  we  will  have  general  singing  in  our 
churches.  Until  the  people  at  large  outgrow 
the  ditties  now  so  popular,  we  shall  necessarily 
have  poor  church  music. 

"The  beauty  of  church  music,  (as  a 
visitor  said  of  the  music  in  Spurgeon  s  church,) 
"is  religious  and  spiritual.  That  is  the  highest 
attribute  of  congregational  singing.  But  its 
musical  improvement  would  not  make  it  less  of 
heart  singing;  it  ought  to  make  it  more.  It  is 
said  sometimes  that  it  does  not  matter  how  we 
sing,  so  long  as  we  sing  with  our  heart.  But, 
why  should  the  service  of  praise  be  singled  out 
like  this?  In  other  things  we  do  not  say, 
'  never  mind  how  you  do  it  so  long  as  it  is 
done. 

I  say  this,  however,  in  hearty  subscription 
to  the  sentiment  or  Dr.  Charles  S.  Robinson, 
(who  assuredly  valued  the  worship  that  culture 
can  bring  to  God:)  "What  difference  does  it 
really  make  what  the  people  of  God  sing,  if 
only  the  hymns  are  good,  and  the  tunes  help 
them  on  faster  to  Heaven? 

But  the  people  do  not  sing,  and  it  must  be 
because  music  does  not  take  a  strong  hold  upon 
them  in  their  homes.  Our  musical  culture  has 
not  kept  pace  with  our  progress  in  other  things. 
We  may  concede  that  the  simplest,  most  un- 
classical  music,  if  sung  heartily  by  the  worship- 
ers, is  worth  all  the  contributions  of  the  Pope  s 

Page  Ninety-Nine 


selectest  choir.  As  a  fact,  however,  music  has 
never  taken  deep  and  general  root  except  where 
it  has  been  deeply  studied  by  the  people  at 
large. 

I  would  not,  however,  sound  a  discouraging 
note  about  this.  There  is  not  the  general  sing- 
ing once  to  be  heard  in  our  churches,  partly 
because  the  popular  taste  has  outgrown  the 
popular  capacity.  The  best  judges  are  agreed, 
however,  that  the  Americans  are  a  musical 
people.  There  is  an  improvement  m  the  music 
demanded  in  popular  concerts,  and  a  betterment 
IS  already  coming  about  in  church  music.  The 
very  demand,  too,  for  fine  music  in  the 
churches,  whilst  for  the  time  it  lays  an  embargo 
on  congregational  singing  by  relegating  the  praise 
so  largely  to  the  choir,  argues  at  least  an  im- 
provement m  musical  taste.  Meanwhile,  col- 
leges and  conservatories  of  music  are  springing 
up,  even  in  our  smaller  cities,  and  ere  long  there 
will  be  more  trained  singers  in  all  our  towns  for 
the  choir,  and,  as  a  consequence,  more  people 
praising  God  in  the  pews. 

The  church  cannot  afford,  however,  to  wait 
for  this  musical  raillenium.  She  must  help  to 
usher  it  in,  and  she  should  labor  directly  at  the 
problem.  With  a  competent  leader,  actively 
encouraged  always  by  the  pastor,  every  church 
could  be  made  a  little  conservatory  for  the 
study  and  extension  of  good  music  in  the 
community.      What  other  body  of  people  is  so 


Page  One  Hundred 


naturally  ntted  by  its  very  organization  and  its 
dependence  on  music,  to  carry  forward  musical 
trainmg  ? 

Many  people  are  asking,  "  Wny  not  resusci- 
tate the  old-fasliioned  singing  schools  ?  A 
very  natural  question,  this,  but  the  days  of  the 
peripatetic  singing-scnool  teacher  evidently  are 
numbered,  and  tne  people  will  not  gather  as  once 
they  did  to  enjoy  the  simple  pleasures  of  a  sing- 
ing school.  Besides,  so  long  as  the  average 
Christian  parent  prefers  to  encourage  the  more 
"  stylish  amusements  of  card-parties,  theaters 
and  stage  performances  generally,  we  need  not 
look  tor  the  return  of  the  singing  school. 
Moreover,  things  do  not  return.  New  things 
come  in  their  place.  New  plans  must,  therefore, 
be  adopted  to  develop  the  popular  taste.  The 
Chautauqua  movements  will  aid  somewhat. 
Camp-meetings,  and  musical  conventions,  and 
the  popular  Gospel  hymns  will  do  something 
toward  getting  the  masses  to  sing.  Meanwhile, 
the  church  that  will  spend  money  for  a  com- 
petent music  teacher,  and  the  preacher  who  can 
induce  his  people  to  come  together  regularly  for 
an  hour  of  practice,  will  see  great  strides  made 
in  the  improvement  of  this  part  of  worship. 
We  should  also  insist  upon  having  both  choir- 
singing  and  congregational  singing,  and  should 
unite  them  so  far  as  we  can  in  the  service. 
The  one  should  help  the  other.  There  is  no 
necessary    antagonism     between     them,    but    a 

Page  One  Hundred  and  One 


natural  connection  if  choir  and  people  have 
the  proper  spirit. 

Some  ministers  are  drawing  and  training  the 
people  by  "song  services,  and  these  can  be 
made  both  delightful  and  profitable.  A  success- 
ful song  service,  it  is  true,  implies  a  good  musi- 
cal element  in  the  congregation ;  yet  it  is 
astonishing  what  can  be  accomplished  by  utiliz- 
ing the  gifts  of  an  average  church.  The  thing 
itself  IS  so  simple,  too,  as  to  be  within  the 
achievement  of  most  preachers.  Take  familiar 
topics,  for  instance,  like  the  Christian  pilgrim, 
the  promises,  the  life  of  trust,  the  stages  of 
salvation,  the  graces  of  the  Christian  life,  and 
grouping  the  hymns,  embodying  these  in  a 
natural  and  progressive  way,  with  now  and 
then  a  solo,  or  a  Bible  verse  or  other  selection 
read  by  some  member  of  the  Sunday  School, 
or  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  the  inter- 
spersing of  comment  and  illustration  and  in- 
cident, by  the  leader,  and  the  thing  is  done,  and 
the  people  go  away  pleased  and  helped.  A 
more  familiar  plan  is  to  make  it  the  occasion  of 
instructing  the  people  in  the  older  hymns — their 
origin  and  the  truths  they  embody.  This  will 
endear  these  to  our  people,  besides  furnishing 
them  with  the  experience  of  the  universal  Chris- 
tian heart  so  skillfuly  delineated  by  them. 

It  will  require  some  study,  I  grant  you,  to 
accomplish  this.  One  will  often  need  to 
carefully  authenticate  incidents  running  through 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Two 


the  religious  press  before  using  them.  He 
should  keep  out  such  myths  as  the  story  of 
Charles  Wesley  s  composing  "Jesus,  Lover  oi 
My  Soul,  after  a  bird  had  taken  refuge  in  his 
bosom.  Yet  the  sources  of  many  hymns  can 
be  found  in  well-authenticated  circumstances  that 
illustrate  the  truth  and  fix  it  in  the  memory, 
and  these  should  be  used  with  discrimination. 

I  cannot  see  why  the  most  rigorous  Protes- 
tant taste  should  object  to  this.  You  can 
mingle  Scriptural  truth,  personal  appeal  and 
incident  in  a  song-service  as  you  wish.  It  is 
in  your  own  hand  to  make  the  impression  you 
desire.  There  is  a  liberty  of  the  spirit,  too, 
guaranteed  to  us  in  worship  as  in  all  other  things  ; 
we  sometimes  forget  t  lat  the  order  and  details 
of  our  worship  are  not  laid  down  in  the  Word. 
Let  not  our  caution  as  to  novelties  lead  us, 
then,  to  dogmatize  where  the  Spirit  has  left  us 
free — "Quench  not  the  Spirit! 

Under  this  general  remark  I  would  also  bring 
the  whole  question  of  liturgies,  although  denom- 
inational principles  and  customs  settle  this 
matter  to  a  large  extent.  It  is  worth  consider- 
ing, however,  whether  in  our  most  unritualistic 
systems  there  may  not  be  room  for  some  ex- 
pansion of  the  service,  at  least  in  the  way  of 
responses  taken  from  the  Word  of  God.  The 
Temple  and  synagogue  service  made  provision 
we  know,  to  some  extent,  for  this,  and  some  of 
our  most  evangelical  congregations  are  introduc- 

Pagc  One  Hundred  and  Three 


ing  a  system  of  responses,  to  the  evident 
increase  of  interest  and  profit. 

As  to  using  people  of  the  world,  or  men  and 
women  of  unconsecrated  life,  in  choirs  and  song 
services,  it  is  left  for  your  own  best  thoughts, 
in  your  own  situation,  to  determine.  We  are 
not  to  forget  that  God  s  grace  operates  some- 
times through  just  such  associations.  Two  or 
three  incidents  have  come  to  me  lately  of  the 
conversion  of  choir-singers  through  the  hymns 
they  sang.  Need  for  extreme  measures  will 
not  often  arise.  It  is  most  likely  to  occur  with 
paid  choirs,  hut  congregations  thus  served,  it 
would  seem,  are  most  able  to  require  a  becom- 
ing character  in  their  employes. 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  a  pastor  can 
stimulate  congregational  singing.  It  will  be  a 
great  thing  if  you  can  meet  the  children,  now 
and  then,  and  sing  with  them.  It  would  be 
well  to  go  to  the  Sunday  School,  quite  often, 
and  encourage  the  learning  of  new  music.  I 
could  name  pastors,  of  good-sized  churches,  too, 
who  lead,  at  least  occasionally,  their  Sunday 
School  music.  They  thus  unwittingly  get  a 
hold  upon  their  young  people.  How  could 
they  better  show  that  they  love  brightness  and 
cheer,  and  desire  to  see  the  young  people 
happy?  I  suspect,  too,  that  if  one  will  try 
occasionally  to  lift  the  music  out  of  its  ruts,  he 
will  have  a  novel  and  unsuspected  confirmation 
of  the  original   perversity  of  human  nature !      I 


Page  One  Hundred  and  Four 


do  not  know  how  else  to  explain  the  persistent 
tendency  of  young  people  to  drawl  and  drag 
Sunday  School  music,  when  they  should  sing  it 
hlithely  and  happily.  Our  composers  are  cer- 
tainly not  to  blame  for  this  tendency,  in  view 
of  the  bright  and  beautiful  music  they  have 
added  to  our  store,  and,  assuredly,  the  Gospel 
of  good  tidings  IS  not. 

Why  should  not  a  pastor  devote  an  occa- 
sional Sabbath  service  just  to  singing?  Why 
may  we  not  have  praise-meetings  as  well  as 
prayer-meetings  ?  Objectors  to  this  must  not 
have  noticed  the  frequent  Scriptural  references 
to  the  coming  together  of  the  people  just  to 
praise  God,  and  the  repeated  exhortations  to 
praise  Him  as  an  end  and  object  in  itself.  If, 
too,  as  insisted  all  along,  there  is  a  message  to 
the  people  m  the  hymns  as  well  as  an  offering 
to  God,  the  legitimacy  of  an  occasional  special 
service  for  singing  will  fully  appear. 

It  will  be  sometimes,  also,  a  delightful  relief 
to  the  pastor  as  well  as  to  his  people.  The 
most  versatile  preacher  at  times  longs  to  break 
up  the  monotony  of  meetings  conducted  always 
after  the  same  model.  The  very  regularity 
and  decorum  of  the  Sabbath  service  may  tend 
to  strangle  the  freer  expressions  of  the  heart. 

The  fear  that  the  people  cannot  be  gotten 
back  into  "  the  regular  service  after  such 
exercises,  is  not  justified,  either  by  good  sense 
or  by  experience.      The  same  reasoning  would 


Pace  One  Hundred  and  Five 


forbid  any  vacation  or  any  variation  from  regular 
engagements.  It  would  rule  out  special  evan- 
gelistic services  for  fear  the  church  will  not  fall 
into  the  regular  work  again.  Such  efforts, 
however,  as  we  know,  do  not  satisfy  the  people 
as  a  constancy.  They  soon  begin  to  long  for 
the  familiar  order  of  reading  and  preaching,  and 
praise  and  prayer. 

I  do  not  see  why  a  small  part  of  the  time  of 
a  regular  Sabbath  service  may  not  be  taken  up 
occasionally  by  a  trained  man  in  teaching  the 
congregation  to  sing.  What  better  thing  to 
learn  on  the  Sabbath  than  to  sing,  just  as  we 
prepare  for  any  other  duty?  New  hymns, 
however,  can  be  introduced  and  taught  the 
people  by  the  pastor  himself  in  connection  with 
the  ordinary  service.  Let  him  announce  that 
the  choir  will  sing  the  hymn,  and  then  that  all 
will  try  to  sing  it.  Then  let  him  select  that 
hymn  or  tune  for  a  few  Sabbaths  until  it  goes 
easily.  The  people  s  final  verdict  should  be 
decisive  about  it.  Why  insist  upon  what  can- 
not be  made  serviceable  in  that  particular  con- 
gregation? 

The  choir  can  help  in  this  very  much,  if  they 
will  now  and  then  sing,  in  place  of  an  anthem, 
one  of  the  more  elaborate  tunes  of  our  Hym- 
nals. The  pastor  can  then  call  special  attention 
to  it,  and  have  the  people  follow  the  choir  with 
their  books  open  before  them.  Ail  become 
thus  familiarized  with  the  tune,  and  a  common 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Six 


standard  o{  taste  is  set  up  for  choir  and  people. 

I  am  also  an  advocate  or  unison-singing  as 
a  means  of  learnmg  new  music.  Let  all  be 
asked  nrst  to  sing  the  air ;  thus  it  is  impressed 
on  tne  memory.  It  is  often,  besides,  tbe 
grandest  way  to  render  some  of  the  choral-like 
hymns.  In  such  case  the  organ,  played  strongly, 
supplies  the  complete  harmony  for  the  hymn. 

One  very  obvious  thing  is  forgotten  by  many 
a  pastor ;  that  is,  that  there  should  be  a  good 
supply  of  books, — books  in  good  type  and 
with  the  musical  score.  In  a  few  Sabbaths 
spent  in  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh,  nothing  im- 
pressed me  more  than  the  Bible  and  the  Hym- 
nal provided  for  every  worshiper,  and  lying  upon 
the  pew-shelf  before  him.  It  is  an  inexcusable 
niggardliness  to  omit  this,  since  no  expense  will 
so  easily  take  care  of  itself. 

No  experienced  pastor  would  belittle  the 
dimculties  attending  an  effort  to  improve  the 
church  s  praise.  But  dimculties  oppose  us  in 
other  directions  and  we  are  not  deterred  from 
going  forward  by  them. 

We  should  ever  hold  before  our  people  that 
singing  God  s  praise  is  a  duty.  It  might  be  well 
to  repeat  occasionally  to  them  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards s  strong  words  on  this  subject:  "As  it  is 
the  command  of  God  that  all  should  sing,  so  all 
should  learn  to  sing,  since  it  is  a  thing  which 
cannot  be  done  decently  without  learning. 
Those,    therefore,    when    there    is    no    natural 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Seven 


ability  (as  tliere  seldom  is)  who  neglect  to 
learn  to  sing,  live  in  sin,  as  they  neglect  what  is 
necessary  in  order  to  their  attending  to  one  of 
the  ordinances  or  God  s  worship.  The  plea 
oi  inability  will,  oi  course,  be  set  up  by  many. 
But  the  most  experienced  musicians  do  not 
concede  that  such  inability  often  exists.  H 
you  are  a  doubter  here,  I  would  advise  you  to 
get  "  Hastmgs  s  Sacred  Praise  and  read  his 
testimony  as  to  the  development  of  the  musical 
faculty  in  scores  of  cases  where  it  was  supposed 
to  be  entirely  wanting.  One  man  learned,  after 
he  was  sixty  years  of  age,  "to  turn  a  tune, 
but  came  to  sing  with  pleasure  after  he  had 
been  convinced  of  the  duty  and  of  the  possibil- 
ity of  it  for  him.  Dr.  Hullah  is  never  tired  of 
reiterating  his  disbelief  in  the  common  talk 
about  people  having  no  ear  and  no  voice.  It 
is  impossible  for  so  very  small  a  minority  that 
we  may  say  it  is  possible  to  practically  all. 

There  is  a  charm,  too,  in  the  music  of  the 
people  which  does  not  belong  to  the  perform- 
ances of  selected  choirs.      Mr.  Curwen  says  : 

"  Even  from  the  musical  point  of  view  it  is 
remarkable  that  voices,  when  combined  in  large 
numbers,  become  pleasant  and  even  sweet  in 
effect,  although  individually  they  may  be  coarse 
and  out  of  tune.  Like  the  noises  of  a  busy 
town,  or  of  a  forest,  a  thousand  voices,  each 
of  them  tuneless,  combine  to  make  one  harmon- 
ious whole.      Congregational  singing,  too,  has  a 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Eieht 


charm  quite  distinct  from  tliat  of  artistic  music, 
a  charm  which  the  greatest  musicians  have 
acknowledged. 

When  I  heard  the  Presbyterian  Brotherhood 
sing  in  the  Cincinnati  Music  Hall,  sustained  by 
the  mighty  organ,  I  closed  my  hook  and  said  to 
my  neighbor:  "  I  must  listen  to  this;  it  is  too 
grand  to  lose.  The  praise  of  God  from  ferv- 
ent hearts  is  the  greatest  of  all  music. 

We  come  again  to  the  pastor  s  duty  m  view 
of  these  possibilities.  Is  it  not  evident  enough? 
One  of  America's  greatest  pastors  shall  declare 
it  for  us:  "We  do  not  think  that  congrega- 
tional singing  will  ever  prevail  with  power 
until  pastors  of  churches  appreciate  its  import- 
ance and  labor  to  secure  it.  If  they  regard  it 
but  a  decorous  form  of  amusement,  pleasantly 
relieving  the  more  solemn  acts  of  worship,  it 
will  always  be  degraded.  It  is  certain  that 
there  will  not  be  a  spirit  of  song  in  the  congre- 
gation if  the  pastor  is  himself  indifferent  to  it. 
The  first  step  toward  congregational  singing 
must  evidently  be  in  the  direction  of  the  minis- 
try itself. 


Paga  On*  Hnndred  mmI  Nine 


"VIII 

"Dbe    XCse    of    ^uslc    In   'pastoral   anb 

Otl)<ir  "personal  ^orK  In  l^e 

Community 

"  Not  (or  that  we  have  dominion  over  your  faith,  but  are  helpers 
of  your  joy. 

—St.  Paul 

|HE  impression  a  minister  of  the  Gospel 
makes  outside  nis  pulpit  will  reinforce 
His  message,  powerfully,  or  will  react 
against  it,  in  the  same  degree.  Of  one  of  our 
prominent  American  divines  it  was  said,  that 
when  he  was  in  the  pulpit  the  people  wished 
that  he  would  never  come  out ;  and  when  he 
was  out  of  it  they  wished  that  they  might 
never  see  him  m  it  again.  He  was  not  the 
same  man  Monday  that  they  saw  on  Sunday. 
But  whatever  his  pulpit  gifts,  it  is  the  man 
back  of  the  Message  that  speaks,  most  loudly, 
and  he  can  be  best  known  in  the  daily  life. 

He  should,  for  one  thing,  make  the  impression 
of  being  a  happy  man,  else  he  cannot  be  the 
helper  of  his  people  s  joy  that  Paul  desired  to 
be.       Now.   music    is    the  joy-language    of    the 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Eleven 


heart ;  and  the  beautiiul  is  God  s  native  speech 
— though  few  theologians  seem  to  have  found 
it  out.  It  a  minister,  therefore,  as  a  spokesman 
tor  God,  does  not  know  or  does  not  speak  that 
language,  what  will  the  community  think  of  it? 

It  IS  a  great  thing  if  the  people,  and  especially 
the  young,  can  see  their  pastor  enjoying  with 
them  innocent  pleasures  and  helping  them  to 
nnd  such.  No  readier  resource  offers  itself  for 
this  than  music.  A  minister  who  can  sound 
out  a  cheery  song  at  a  picnic,  or  take  part  in  a 
musical  number  in  a  parlor,  ingratiates  himself 
wonderfully  and  helps  his  cause  no  little. 

If  one  hesitate  about  this,  it  is  pleasant  to 
know  that  a  minister's  musical  attainments  will 
be  rated  generously  if  he  keep  within  modest 
bounds,  and  despite  defects,  it  is  likely  to  be 
said  of  him,  as  was  said  of  one  brother,  "  Well, 
he  does  remarkably  well  for  a  preacher. 

This  IS  a  matter,  believe  me,  well  worthy  of 
ministerial  attention.  We  inveigh  against  pop- 
ular pleasures,  but  it  is  not  always  an  easy 
matter  to  decide  how  people  are  to  enjoy  them- 
selves together.  Now,  what  is  ordinarily  better 
for  them  than  good  vocal  or  instrumental 
music?  Music  brightens  the  scene.  It  unlim- 
bers  the  reserved,  draws  out  the  timid,  and 
brings  all  ages  together  happily,  and  its  effect  is 
most  renning  upon  all.  You  will  allow  me 
here  a  personal  illustration :  One  of  the  pas- 
tors of    my    boyhood,    Jonathan    E.    Spilman, 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Twelve 


won  my  interest  by  His  music.  His  sermons 
were  able,  but  tbey  were  usually  cast  in  an 
argumentative,  unadorned  form  tbat  did  not 
attract  the  young  so  mucn  as  tne  older  people. 
He  was,  nowever,  a  lover  ot  poetry  and  song, 
and  m  bis  youtb  be  bad  composed  tbe  lovely 
melody,  so  well  known,  to  Burns  s  lines : 

"  Flow  gently,  »weet  Afton, 
Along  thy  green  braes," 

as  well  as  some  otber  creditable  music.  Tbis 
bumanized  tbe  preacber  to  me,  and  added  an 
interest,  also,  to  bis  preacbing. 

Wberever  tbe  Gospel  is  preacbed  tbe  social 
power  of  music  is  one  of  its  greatest  aids. 
Kirk,  tbe  missionary  of  Alaska,  relates  tbat  tbe 
bard-frozen  bearts  of  tbe  men  were  melted  as 
soon  as  tbe  piano  was  opened.  Tbey  bad  at 
first  rebuked  bim  and  bis  wife,  putting  tbeir 
beads  into  tbe  door  of  bis  bouse  and  asking 
"  wbat  business  tbey  bad  up  tbere?  but  wben 
tbe  songs  of  bome  and  early  memories  began  to 
float  out  from  tbe  little  cabin  into  tbe  camp, 
tbey  came  and  stood  around  tbe  window  and 
begged  to  be  admitted.  Tbey  bad  been  won 
by  tbis  God-given  influence  over  tbe  buman 
beart.  Tbe  story  of  tbe  taking  of  bis  wife  s 
piano  to  tbat  remote  region,  and  its  great 
service  in  belping  to  win  souls,  is  one  of  tbe 
most  interesting  in  tbe  annals  of  missionary 
work.  Strange  tbat  any  minister  sbould  be- 
little or  overlook  sucb  a  social  power  as  tbat ! 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Thirteen 


In  the  sick  room,  too,  how  blessed  sometimes 
IS  tne  ministry  of  music.  I  recall  from  my 
own  home  an  incident  which  is  typical  of  many 
cases  known  to  us  all.  My  honored  father, 
who  was  the  very  embodiment  of  the  sanguine 
temperament,  after  weeks  of  suffering  had  at 
last  let  down.  His  spirits  sunk  within  him 
and  the  room  was  full  of  gloom.  At  this 
juncture  an  old  Methodist  friend,  a  pastor, 
visited  him,  who  could  sing,  and  they  fell  to 
talking  together  of  the  revival  times  and  the 
songs  of  the  old  camp-meetings.  The  effect  of 
this  was  magical :  in  a  little  while  the  walls  of 
the  sick  chamber  were  resounding  with  song, 
like  the  jail  where  Paul  and  Silas  broke  into 
praise,  and  the  sick  man  was  made  a  new  man. 
Music  had  been  more  than  medicine  to  him : 
the  singing  pastor  had  been  his  best  doctor.  I 
am  sure  that  if  physicians  knew  of  more  minis- 
ters who  could  go  thus  into  sick  rooms  and 
carry  cheer  instead  of  dolefulness  and  stereo- 
typed consolations  with  them,  they  would  not 
so  often  forbid  the  visitation  of  their  sick  by 
the  ministry. 

I  was  never  more  impressed  with  the  pas- 
toral value  of  the  hymnology  of  the  church, 
than  when  visiting,  a  few  years  since,  a  young 
and  beautiful  girl  of  the  congregation,  who  was 
evidently  to  pass  away  in  a  few  days.  1  had 
just  come  to  the  held  and  was  naturally  anxious, 
feeling    that    1    could    poorly    minister    to    one 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Fourteen 


whom  I  scarcely  knew.  But  whilst  in  this 
state  or  mind  on  one  or  my  visits  I  saw  a  piano 
in  a  room  adjoining  the  sick  chamber  and  went 
to  it  and  sang,  as  tenderly  as  I  could,  some  of 
the  Gospel  Hymns.  One  of  them  seemed  just 
made  for  this  crisis  of  her  soul,  and  I  sang  it  to 
her: 

"  Hold  thou  my  hand,  I  am  so  weak  and  helpless 
I  dare  not  take  one  step  without  thine  aid. 
Hold  thou  my  hand,  for  then,  0  loving  Saviour! 
No  thought  of  ill  can  make  my  soul  afraid." 

I  saw  at  once  that  this  simple  song  with  its 
appealing  music  had  brought  to  her  the  expres- 
sion of  her  trust  that  she  needed.  Could  St. 
Paul  have  had  a  greater  privilege  or  have  done 
a  greater  service  than  was  given  me  at  that 
time,  to  lift  that  needy  soul  as  upon  wings  of 
song  into  her  Saviour  s  presence  ? 

The  service  of  music  in  funeral  services  is  of 
course  generally  availed  of.  Some  persons,  it  is 
true,  do  not  desire  its  use  at  such  a  time  and 
their  preference  is  to  be  respected  ;  but  I  ques- 
tion whether  a  discreet  pastor  would  not  better 
he  trusted  to  select  something  from  the  stronger 
hymns  of  the  church  which  would  not  try  the 
emotions,  but  would,  on  the  contrary,  give 
fortitude  and  consolation  to  the  mourners. 

A  warning  may  be  interposed  here  as  to  the 
selection  of  the  funeral  music.  I  was  horrined 
at  the  funeral  of  a  young  man  who  had  been 
drowned,  to  find  that  we  were  singing,  "  Shall 
we  gather  at  the  river?      and  that  every  bar  of 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Fifteen 


the  music  was  bringing  pain  instead  of  consola- 
tion to  tne  mourners.  A  very  simple  service 
was  needed,  and  we  nad  by  a  burried  choice 
lalJen  into  this  mistake.  The  pastor  must  be 
on  the  alert  here  as  everywhere  else. 

Visitors  to  insane  asylums,  jails,  penitenti- 
aries and  rescue  missions,  know  that  nothing  sub- 
dues and  heals  and  works  its  blessed  way  into 
the  heart  like  a  well-selected  song.  He  who 
has  never  seen  the  spell  with  which  it  holds 
and  sways  distempered  intellects,  and  more  dis- 
tempered souls,  has  never  pondered  the  won- 
drous mystery  of  this  department  oi  the  Cre- 
ator s  world.  I  have  myself,  in  speaking  to  the 
convicts  in  a  neighboring  prison,  found  a  re- 
sponse that  I  was  conscious  was  largely  due  to 
my  accompanying  the  message  with  a  song. 
From  all  the  prisons  of  the  Civil  War  time 
come  illustrations  of  this.  Eternity  may  disclose 
that  the  greatest  work  ever  done  by  Bishop 
McCabe  was  by  his  singing  for  and  with  his 
fellow  prisoners  in  Libby  prison ;  and  he  never 
afterwards  proved  himself  more  a  Bishop  than 
when  binding  his  authority  by  a  song. 

The  musical  and  poetical  gifts  of  such  men  as 
Maltbie  Babcock  and  Melancthon  W.  Stryker 
and  others,  brought  to  bear  on  cultured  people, 
have  vastly  increased  their  religious  influence. 
In  the  free  life  of  the  West,  it  has  often  given  a 
minister  entry  and  introduction  for  his  words. 
In    lodges,    and    Grand    Army    meetings,    and 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Sixteen 


holiday  occasions  and  patriotic  celebrations,  a 
minister  able  to  step  up  and  "help  out  witb  the 
music     becomes  a  factor  for  good  at  once. 

I  know  a  pastor,  one  of  the  most  vigorous 
and  devoted  young  brethren  in  the  Northwest, 
who  joined  the  town-band  and  thus  got  a  hold 
upon  a  certain  class  in  the  community.  Some 
preachers  are  always  welcome  in  camping 
groups  and  get  a  good  "  underhold  or  unap- 
proachable men,  by  being  able  to  lead  off  with 
a  song  about  the  evening  camp-nre.  A  good 
song  at  the  tongue  s  end  is  better  and  more 
ministerial,  too,  than  the  much-coveted  gift  of 
telling  a  joke.  When  asked  to  visit  the  schools, 
it  is  well  if  you  can  propose  and  lead  the  chil- 
dren in  a  song.  Thus  you  bring  cheer  and 
assure  yourself  a  quick  invitation  from  both  the 
teacher  and  pupils  to  return.  Such  a  preacher, 
also,  nnds  more  young  people  seeking  out  his 
church  on  the  Sabbath,  because  a  personal 
bond  has  been  established  between  him  and  the 
young. 

This  may  seem  to  some  an  abandonment  of 
the  safe  traditions  of  ministerial  methods.  I 
think  they  are  mistaken.  President  Roosevelt 
and  President  Taft  have  won  people  by  know- 
ing when  to  unbend  and  be  hale-fellow  with 
every  American.  No  man  is  nt  to  fill  a  great 
ofnce  who  does  not  know  how  to  keep  his 
dignity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  show  a  large 
brotherhood  with  men. 

Pagre  One  Hundred  and  Serenteen 


There  is  no  general  interest  more  directly 
bearing  upon  the  worship  and  work  of  the 
churches,  than  the  increase  of  musical  cultiva- 
tion in  the  community ;  and  you,  as  a  pastor, 
have  got  to  help  to  bring  that  about.  Our 
Boards  of  Education  need  arousing  to  the  im- 
portance of  musical  training  as  a  part  of  educa- 
tion ;  and  you  are  the  man  to  urge  it  upon 
their  attention  by  your  words  and  by  your 
example. 

My  last  instance  shall  be  from  a  rarer  held, 
but  it  illustrates  the  reserved  power  of  a  minis- 
ter trained  to  sing. 

In  one  of  the  Southern  cities  a  few  years 
since,  a  great  popular  meeting  was  being  held  at 
the  Opera  House,  on  Sunday  night,  to  protest 
against  certain  public  iniquities.  When  the 
audience  was  assembled  and  they  were  ready  to 
begin,  some  one  said,  "Why  we  have  no 
music !  The  choir  had  been  forgotten.  In 
this  emergency  a  minister  on  the  platform  step- 
ped forward  and  offered  to  supply  the  defect. 
This  he  did  by  giving  out,  line  by  line,  the 
words  of  simple  hymns  with  ringing  choruses, 
like  "The  Old  Time  Religion,  "The  Sweet 
Bye  and  Bye,  "  I  11  Live  for  Thee,  and 
similar  songs.  In  a  little  while  that  whole 
audience  were  singing  to  the  top  of  their  bent, 
and  every  one  was  speedily  brought  into  the 
spirit  of  the  meeting.  A  brass  band,  or  a  great 
chorus,    would    have    stirred    their    enthusiasm. 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Eighteen 


but  nothing  could  have  operated  more  deeply 
on  their  religious  nature  than  the  simple  device 
o{  the  pastor  present.  It  showed  as  well  that 
when  we  cannot  have  great  organs,  and  fine 
choruses  and  gated  choirs,  we  have  still  a 
power  at  hand  ii  the  soul  oi  the  leader  he  full  ot 
song,  and  his  voice  have  round  its  cunning  in 
use  for  Christ.  I  shall  be  told,  oi  course,  that 
few  pastors  have  the  musical  girts  to  be  used 
in  all  these  ways,  but  there  might  be  more  ii 
the  power  of  this  God-given  resource  were 
impressed  upon  our  clergy.  There  are  few 
ministers,  likewise,  who  have  decided  elocution- 
ary gifts,  but  the  seminaries,  nevertheless,  are 
giving  more  attention  to  this  department  every 
year.  It  is  certain  that  a  minister  who  has 
neither  musical  nor  rhetorical  gifts  will  be 
shorn  of  his  power  just  that  much. — Sauve  qui 
peut ! 


Paee  One  Hundred  and  Nineteen 


^b*  "place  of  Mluslc  In  l^e  Scheme  of 
Redemption 

"  And  they  sing  the  song  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  tKe 
song  of  the  Lamh." 

— The  Revelation 

0  art,  assuredly,  has  exercised  so  indis- 
pensable a  power  as  music  in  tne  ser- 
vice of  religion.  From  the  beginning, 
wnetner  floating  down  from  Cathedral  choirs  or 
stealing  forth  from  catacomb  or  conventicle  to 
betray  the  hiding  of  the  faithful,  music  has  been 
the  most  important,  flexible  and  valuable  ad- 
junct of  worship.  The  songs  of  the  Crusaders 
rallied  and  flung  the  hosts  of  the  faithful  against 
the  desecrators  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Wal- 
denses  and  Huguenots  went  to  the  stake  singing 
praises.  They  sustained  their  spirits,  like  Paul 
and  Silas  when  in  prison,  by  the  aid  of  song. 
The  people  of  God  in  all  ages,  like  Luther  and 
Melancthon,  have  echoed  the  war  song  of 
Israel,  "  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength. 
Music  has  gathered  and  moved  to  decision 
great  masses  in  the  historic  revivals.  When 
was  there  ever  a  great  popular  impression  made 

Pe.ee  One  Hundred  and  Twenty 


without  the  aid  of  music,  from  the  days  of  the 
great  camp-meetings  to  the  enterprises  or  modem 

evangehsm  ?     A  revival  of  pralsc  has  always 
marked  and  inspired  a  revival  of  religion. 

As  has  already  been  suggested,  music  may 
be  used  to  present  the  Gospel,  as  is  possible  to 
no  other  art  except  poetry.  God  entrusted  to 
The  Psalter,  the  great  song  book  oi  the  Bible, 
some  of  the  greatest  disclosures  of  the  Messiah 
and  His  work.  The  Hymnology  of  the  church 
likewise  embodies  a  complete  system  of  experi- 
ential theology — terse  and  tuneful,  and  reaching 
to  the  depths  of  the  popular  heart.  Such 
hymns  as  "  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way, 
"Not  all  the  blood  of  beasts,  "Arise,  my 
soul,  arise,  are  permanently  inspired  sermons, 
self-applied  by  the  singers,  and  preached  and 
repreached  by  multitudes  thousands  of  times. 
E.  P.  Hammond,  the  evangelist,  attributes 
his  conversion  to  the  hymn,  "Alas!  and  did 
my  Saviour  bleed.  "An  ungodly  stranger, 
said  Mr.  Spurgeon,  "  stepping  into  one  of  our 
services  at  Exeter  Hall,  was  brought  to  the 
cross  by  Wesley  s  hymn,  '  Jesus,  Lover  of  My 
Soul.  "  I  would  rather,  says  Beecher,  "  have 
written  Wesley  s  hymn  than  to  have  the  fame  of 
all  the  kings  of  the  earth.  It  has  more  power  in 
it.  That  hymn  will  go  on  singing  until  the  last 
trump  brings  forth  the  angel  band ;  and  then  I 
think  it  will  mount  up  on  some  lip  to  the  very 
presence  of  God. 

Pace  One  Hundred  and  Twenty>Oii« 


As  a  discipline — as  LutKer  insists — it  quite 
transcends  language  to  describe  tlie  mystic  weld- 
ing of  hearts  that  takes  place  as  a  people  unite 
m  the  great  themes  of  sacred  song.  I  believe 
that  it  IS  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  morale  of 
any  congregation  will  be  advanced  just  so  far 
as  this  feature  is  a  power  and  a  success  among 
them. 

But  I  wish  to  emphasize  it,  as  a  nnal  thought, 
that  music  furnishes  the  most  wonderful  in- 
stance of  the  Gospel  conquering  and  conforming 
to  itself  a  province  of  human  thought,  and 
thereby  carrying  it  on  to  its  own  highest  de- 
velopment. 

The  career  of  music  culminates  in  Heaven  in 
the  "Song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.'  It  came 
into  the  world  early,  its  discovery  and  nrst  de- 
velopment being  due  to  the  Cainite  civilization, 
but  it  is  only  in  Gospel  times  that  it  has 
flowered  out  into  its  greatest  beauty.  When 
the  trophies  of  the  Gospel  are  gathered  in  they 
will  be  welcomed  and  will  signalize  their  joy 
with  song. 

Music  could  not  be  developed  in  heathenism, 
even  in  its  highest  phases.  Greece  and  Rome 
have  given  us  Architecture,  Sculpture,  Painting 
and  Rhetoric  in  perfection.  They  could  not 
give  us  music,  for  its  content  is  too  great.  It 
IS  too  thoughtful.  It  involves  too  much  the 
ultimate  mysteries  of  the  soul.  Besides,  music 
IS  distinctively  the   language  of  the   heart,  and 

Page  On«  Hundred  and  Twenty-Two 


the  heart  couM  only  be  developed  in  Christen- 
dom. The  music  of  Greece  and  Rome  is 
scholastic ;  to  us,  indeed,  quite  enigmatical.  It 
did  not,  in  fact,  reach  the  people.  Music  could 
advance  hut  little  further  among  the  Hebrews, 
though  there  are  beginnings  there  of  its  great 
service  to  humanity.  The  Temple  choruses  are 
lost  to  us,  but  the  Psalms  and  Prophecies  ot 
Israel  have  a  spirit  and  a  rhythm  that  witness 
to  the  place  of  music  in  a  divinely-planned 
service.  It  was  these  which  enkindled  the 
genius  of  Handel  and  Haydn,  of  Mozart  and 
Mendelssohn. 

The  greatest  music,  however,  waited  for  the 
breath  of  the  Spirit  that  gave  us  the  mighty 
Reformation.  Protestantism,  we  may  proudly 
claim,  and  not  Catholicism,  has  inspired  its 
highest  note.  There  is  a  secular  and  sensuous 
tinge  to  even  the  sacred  music  of  Italy  and 
France,  the  lands  of  the  Papacy.  In  Germany 
alone,  where  the  people  sing  God  s  Word,  and 
the  hymns  and  the  organ  music  have  been  per- 
fected by  pious  composers,  is  music  at  once 
most  popular  and  most  perfect. 

Moreover,  Evangelical  Protestantism  has 
won  the  chief  trophies  here.  Unitarianism 
may  subsidize  cultivated  choruses  and  gifted 
choirs,  but  she  cannot  bring  forth  hymns  that 
the  masses  sing.  A  few  exceptions,  like 
"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee,  do  not  disprove 
the    general    rule.      As    a    fact,    it    takes    "the 

PaK«  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Three 


blood'  to  produce  the  greatest  music,  and 
Unitananism  nas  rejected  the  blood. 

For  the  same  reason  Ritualism  fails  to  call 
forth  the  singing  of  the  multitude.  The  rector 
of  one  of  our  most  ritualistic  congregations, 
himself  a  product  of  the  Evangelical  faith, 
recently  lamented  to  me  that  after  wearisome 
effort  he  could  not  get  his  people  to  sing.  Nor 
will  he  :  the  system  and  the  surroundings  do 
not  admit  of  it.  This  fact  is  vastly  signincant 
in  many  directions.  It  has  a  tremendous  bear- 
ing on  the  whole  liturgical  question.  The 
people  in  such  churches  do  not  respond  in  any 
way  so  well  as  in  more  popular  systems.  The 
hymn-smging  of  the  Protestant  churches  is,  after 
all,  the  best  popular  liturgy. 

The  school  of  worldliness,  too,  has  not 
brought  forth  the  greatest  musical  creations. 
Sacred  music  must  ever  remain  the  highest,  be- 
cause it  has  the  highest  possible  themes.  Even 
the  greatest  secular  music  is  ever  returning  to 
the  deep  religious  mood,  borrowing,  as  it  were, 
its  spirit  from  the  Sanctuary.  The  most  beau- 
tiful andantes  and  adagios  of  Beethoven  and 
Mendelssohn  and  Schubert  are  always  couched 
in  a  deep  religious  spirit.  Tertullian  was  right 
in  his  celebrated  saying:  "The  soul  is  by  nature 
Christian.  It  is  Christ  s  rightful  territory  and 
in  His   service  it  attains   its   highest  loveliness. 

Of  course  inndelity  can  have  no  great  songs 
for  it  can  inspire   no   popular  faith,  and  doubt 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Four 


Has  nothing  about  whicK  to  sing.  Nor  have 
cant  and  rehgious  unreahty  any  iorms  of  musi- 
cal grace  to  show.  Cant  may  protest  hke  a 
parson,  hut  it  can  never  sing  hke  a  seraph  ! 

The  highest  art  must  at  last  be  reflective  of 
the  highest  truth.  Form  and  spirit  must  har- 
monize. Jubal  could  invent,  hut  neither  he 
nor  his  followers  could  perfect  the  pipe  and  the 
organ.  A  Cainite  civilization  oftener  begins 
these  worldly  instrumentalities,  because  its  em- 
phasis and  its  goal  are  worldly,  but  Christianity 
must  at  last  give  them  their  highest  function 
and  fruition.  The  city  is  Cainite  ;  the  city  of 
God  IS  in  the  heavens. 

Heaven,  as  we  more  and  more  realize,  is  to 
he  the  perfectation  of  all  that  is  good  and  beau- 
tiful here  below.  "  Revelation  thus  answers 
back  to  "  Genesis.  The  heavenly  Paradise 
completes  the  earthly  Eden.  Every  thought, 
we  know,  is  to  be  brought  into  captivity  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ. 

Now,  what  trophy  can  more  worthily  than 
music  grace  the  conquerors  triumph?  Every 
hymn-book,  indeed,  is  a  record  of  these  con- 
quests of  Christ ; — airs  born  of  secular  and  not 
infrequently  degraded  parentage  being  rescued 
and  dedicated  to  the  praises  of  Israel.  The 
protest  sometimes  heard  against  the  suiting  of 
sacred  words  to  worldly  airs  is  thus  in  the  face 
of  all  the  church's  past,  and  forgets  the  manifest 
purpose  of  Christ  to  levy  upon  all  things  in  the 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-FiTc 


upbuilding  of  His  Kingdom.  How  few,  in 
singing  "  Greenville,  reflect  or  know  that  it  is 
one  of  the  inndel  Rousseau  s  compositions ! 
This  can  be  paralleled  again  and  again.  Every 
such  case  is  the  prediction  oi  the  ultimate  bring- 
ing of  all  things  to  our  God  and  His  Christ. 

Having  a  grasp  on  this  principle  we  do  not 
need  a  special  argument  to  prove  that  we  are  to 
enjoy  music  m  heaven — music,  possibly,  which 
IS  an  extension  and  development  of  earthly 
strains.  How  can  one  ever  be  dispossessed  of 
Dundee,  Old  Hundred,  Naomi,  or  "Joy  to  the 
World,  the  Lord  is  Come  ?  Are  these  not 
nxed  in  memory  and  will  they  not  be  ever 
coming  back  to  us  freighted  with  our  most 
sacred  associations? 

"To  song,  God  never  said  the  Word 
To  dust  return,  {or  dust  thou  art!" 

—B.  F.  Taylor 

The  very  nature  of  music,  as  an  expression 
of  depths  below  language,  seems  to  point  to  a 
development  beyond,  where  the  soul  reaches  its 
ultimate  possibilities. 

These  are  powerful  considerations,  even  if 
one  does  not  adopt  Charles  Kingsley  s  profound 
and  beautiful  thought,  that  music  must  endure 
because  it  is  in  itself  the  very  expression  of  the 
heavenly  temper.  "There  is  music  in  heaven, 
says  he,  "  because  in  music  there  is  no  self-will. 
And  therefore  it  was  that  the  Greeks,  the  wisest 
of  all   the  heathens,   made  a  point   of  teaching 

Page  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Six 


their  cKilclren  music :  because,  they  said,  it 
taught  them  not  to  be  seli-willed  and  fanciiul, 
but  to  see  the  beauty  of  order,  tbe  usefulness  ol 
rule,  tbe  divineness  ot  laws.  And  tberetore 
music  IS  nt  lor  beaven,  and  tbereiore  music  is  a 
pattern  and  type  of  beaven,  and  of  tbe  everlast- 
ing life  of  God.  Music,  I  say,  is  a  pattern  o( 
tbe  everlasting  life  of  beaven ;  because  m 
beaven,  as  in  music,  is  perfect  freedom  and  per- 
fect pleasure  ;  and  yet  tbat  freedom  comes  not 
from  throwing  away  law  but  from  obeying 
God  s  law  perfectly. 

These  are  profound  and  beautiful  thoughts : 
fanciful  only  to  those  who  have  never  divined 
tbe  harmony  of  the  beautiful  and  the  true. 
But,  of  more  significance  than  even  this  sublime 
speculation  is  tbe  record  that  Christ  sang  with 
His  disciples  before  He  went  to  offer  Himself 
for  tbe  world  s  redemption :  and  very  sugges- 
tive, too,  are  tbe  words  of  the  prophet  Zepha- 
niah : — "The  Lord,  thy  God,  in  tbe  midst  of 
thee,  IS  mighty;  He  will  save.  He  will  rejoice 
over  thee  with  joy :  He  will  joy  over  thee  with 
singing.  He  is  a  bold  man  who  ventures  to 
afnrm  that  tbat  does  not  meam  just  what  it 
says.  Our  Saviour  s  interpretations  of  Scrip- 
ture might  lead  us  to  make  more  rather  than 
less  of  such  hints  as  these. 

Now,  ministers  of  the  word,  should  you  not 
ponder  more  deeply  the  service  of  music,  and 
your  relation  to  an  art  which  sustained  the  Son 

Pa(«  One  Hundred  and  Twcnty-ScTcn 


oi  God  in  the  hour  of  His  passion,  and  voices 
the  joy  ot  the  Father  in  welcoming  the  wan- 
derer home? 

There  is  a  story  told  of  Jenny  Lind  s  nrst 
night  in  London  after  a  tour  of  the  provinces. 
As  she  stepped  upon  the  stage  the  Queen 
was  entering  her  box,  and  the  audience, 
catching  sight  of  both,  poured  out  at  once  its 
tribute  of  applause.  But  the  question  arose, 
who  should  claim  this  recognition?  It  was 
not  for  the  songstress  to  intercept  the  homage 
due  the  sovereign;  nor  would  the  Queen  on 
the  other  hand  take  from  Jenny  her  meed  of 
praise.  In  this  painful  dilemma  Jenny  Lind 
stood  for  a  moment  in  hesitation,  then  sprang 
forward  to  the  footlights  and  sang  with  all  her 
heart,  "  God  save  the  Queen.  She  had  solved 
the  difficulty.  She  had  at  once  honored  her 
Queen  and  gloriously  displayed  her  art. 

Let  this  story  help  us  to  a  heightened  estima- 
tion of  the  function  of  music  in  God  s  universe. 
Let  it  show  us  how  we  may  make  it  and  all 
our  gifts  tributary  to  the  praises  of  our  Re- 
deemer. 

This  is  the  dignity  of  music  in  the  scheme  of 
redemption,  and  this  is  the  duty  and  the  privi- 
lege put  before  every  minister  who  is,  as  I 
have  insisted,  not  only  a  preacher  of  the  Word, 
but  IS  in  the  earthly  sanctuary  like  His  Master 
in  the  heavenly  temple,  the  leader  of  the  praises 
of  Israel. 

Pnne  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Eigrht 


